Eastern European Kolacky

By
Barbara Rolek
Barbara Rolek
Barbara Rolek is a former chef who became a cooking school instructor and award-winning food writer.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 05/28/21
Assorted kolacky

Lou Stejskal/ Flickr/ CC BY 2.0

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 12 mins
Refrigerate dough: 60 mins
Total: 102 mins
Servings: 18 servings

This recipe for round Eastern European kolacky uses baking powder, cream cheese, and butter in the dough to make a flaky pastry topped with sweet fruit preserves or sweet cheese.

These pastries are also spelled kołaczki in Polish. They can be made in a wide variety of shapes, including foldovers and rolls filled with fruit preserves. This recipe takes the easier, but still traditional, route and makes a pastry simply topped with the preserves or sweet cheese filling as you desire. You can use a round cookie cutter as shown or make them into squares, diamonds, or other shapes.

You'll have to plan ahead a little, as you'll need to refrigerate the dough for a few hours or overnight before you roll it out, top it, and bake it. That can make it a project to complete with your kids or grandkids. Children enjoy making the thumbprint in the cookies where you'll add the sweet filling.

Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

  • 1 tablespoon milk

  • 1 tablespoon sugar

  • 1 large egg yolk

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1 large jar fruit, sweet cheese, Czech sweet roll fillings, or sweet pierogi filling

  • Confectioners' sugar

Steps to Make It

  1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, milk, and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

  2. Then, beat in the egg yolk.

  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder and stir it into the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it several hours or overnight.

  4. Heat oven to 400 F.

  5. Roll out the dough between lightly dusted sheets of parchment paper to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch cookie cutter.

  6. Place the pastries on ungreased baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Make an impression in the center of each pastry with a flour-dusted thumb or the back of a spoon. Spoon on about 1 teaspoon of filling. Repeat with remaining dough and any scraps, rolling them out, cutting cookies, and filling them.

  7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

  8. Remove the cookies from the baking sheets and cool completely on wire racks.

  9. Store the cookies in an airtight container. Sprinkle them with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Tip

  • You can use any fruit filling you wish, but the consistency should be firm and not runny or you won't end up with the pastries nice topped with the topping.

Source: Solo Foods, used with permission.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
205 Calories
15g Fat
16g Carbs
2g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 18
Amount per serving
Calories 205
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 15g 19%
Saturated Fat 9g 45%
Cholesterol 50mg 17%
Sodium 56mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 16g 6%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 8g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 27mg 2%
Iron 1mg 3%
Potassium 34mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)