Kolacky are delicate, flaky cream cheese pastries with a candy strawberry cheesecake-inspired filling. They’re tremendous straightforward to customise together with your favourite fruit jam and look superb on a Christmas cookie plate!
For those who love this selfmade kolacky recipe, strive extra conventional treats like pignoli cookies, coconut baklava, and my household’s favourite Macedonian shortbread cookies.
These cute kolacky may look rather a lot like cookies, however they’re really constructed from pastry dough stuffed with candy cream cheese and strawberry jam. Kolacky, or kolache (additionally spelled kołaczki in Polish), is a back-from-home recipe that I grew up with. I’ve made so many variations of those cookie-ish treats that I’ve misplaced rely, however this strawberry cheesecake-inspired model is my favourite. And despite the fact that they aren’t technically cookies, cream cheese kolacky isn’t amiss on our Christmas cookie platters!
Why I Love This Cream Cheese Kolacky Recipe
- A twist on a basic. Whereas conventional kolacky cookies are stuffed with solely jam, I fill mine with a mixture of candy cream cheese and strawberry jam. It tastes identical to strawberry cheesecake!
- Easy dough. The dough wants simply three substances: cream cheese, butter, and flour, and it’s very straightforward to make. It actually comes right down to chilling to get a wonderfully puffed, delicate pastry.
- Any event. In my circles, nothing sweetens up an event or get-together like a plate of selfmade kolacky (with a aspect of eggnog latte!). I make these delicate pastry cookies go hand in hand with holidays and celebrations like child showers, wedding ceremony showers, and birthdays.
What You’ll Want
This kolacky recipe makes use of a easy cream cheese dough constructed from pantry staples. I’ve included some notes on what you’ll want, and you’ll want to scroll to the recipe card for the printable record with the complete recipe quantities and particulars.
- Cream Cheese – Softened to room temperature, for the pastry dough and the filling. Use full-fat cream cheese that is available in bricks, and never the bagel unfold type.
- Butter – Two sticks of unsalted butter, additionally delivered to room temperature.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is your best option right here.
- Powdered Sugar – Additionally known as confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar.
- Vanilla – For the perfect taste, I like to recommend actual vanilla extract.
- Filling – I take advantage of strawberry jam, however you possibly can fill the kolacky with any sort of jam or fruit preserves you’d like. Different fashionable fillings for kolache are peach jam, apricot, raspberry, strawberry, or cherry preserves. It’s also possible to fill them with marmalade, Nutella, or chocolate unfold.
The way to Make Kolacky
These kolacky cookies require just a bit little bit of kitchen ability. For those who observe the recipe as written, you’re certain to return out on prime. Listed below are the steps:
Make the Dough
You’ll begin by making a fast cream cheese pastry dough. You’ll want to sit back the dough afterward in order that it holds its form while you fill and fold it:
- Make the dough. Begin by beating cream cheese and butter till that’s gentle and fluffy. Then, add within the flour and a pinch of salt, and blend to mix.
- Portion and chill the dough. Flip the dough out on a clear floor dusted with powdered sugar. Divide the dough into 4 rounds, and flatten every portion right into a disc. Wrap every dough disc in plastic wrap and place them into the fridge to sit back for half-hour.
Suggestions and Variations
- Chill the dough. This dough is superb, nevertheless it’s additionally a diva. For those who don’t chill it, it WILL crumble. Make sure to refrigerate the dough earlier than you roll it out and once more earlier than baking the pastries.
- Completely different fillings. Use whichever jam or preserves you’ve available. For a extra genuine kolacky, you possibly can skip the cream cheese filling and use solely jam.
- Don’t overfill. With reference to fillings, watch out to not go overboard. Utilizing an excessive amount of filling makes these cookies soggy.
- Make the dough forward. Remember that you may make the dough hours forward of time or freeze it. Then, all that’s left to do is thaw it out, roll the dough, minimize it into small squares, and organize the filling within the heart of the squares. And bake, in fact.
Serving Strategies
Kolacky are a beautiful Christmas deal with, they usually’re even higher when paired with one thing festive! Serve them with a comfortable mug of darkish sizzling chocolate or my creamy selfmade eggnog to maintain issues heat and merry. For those who’re within the temper for one thing boozy with a tropical twist, my coconut mojito is a dang good possibility!
The way to Retailer
- Refrigerate. Kolacky tends to get a bit soggy at room temperature. To maintain these cookies recent, retailer them in an hermetic container within the fridge.
- Freeze. It’s also possible to freeze the baked cookies for as much as 3 months. Thaw them within the fridge earlier than serving.
Extra Christmas Cookie Recipes
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Beat the cream cheese and butter. In your mixer’s bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter till easy, gentle, and fluffy.
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Add the dry substances. Add the flour and salt and proceed to combine till totally integrated.
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Form the dough. Frivolously mud your work space with powdered sugar. Switch the dough to the work space and form it right into a ball.
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Chill. Divide the dough into 4 rounds; flatten every spherical and canopy every spherical of dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for half-hour.
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Make the cheesecake filling. Within the meantime, put together the filling by combining the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in your mixer’s bowl. Beat till creamy and easy. Set it apart.
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Roll and minimize the dough. Mud your work space with flour. Take away the dough from the fridge and let it relaxation for five minutes. Afterward, roll out every ball of dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Then, minimize it into 3×3 squares.
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Add the fillings. Fill the middle of every sq. with 1/2 teaspoon cream cheese combination and 1/2 teaspoon strawberry jam. For a prettier presentation, utilizing a pastry bag, you possibly can pipe the fillings, one subsequent to the opposite or one over the opposite.
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Fold. Overlap reverse corners of the dough to the middle and over the filling. Pinch the seams collectively. Refrigerate the cookies for 1 hour.
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Bake. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Take away the cookies from the fridge and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes or till the sides are browned. Take away from the oven and funky utterly.
- Cream Cheese: This recipe works finest with full-fat cream cheese. Be certain it’s softened earlier than you begin to work with it.
- Butter: Use two sticks of softened unsalted butter. That’s 16 tablespoons or 226 grams of butter.
- Jam Filling: You should utilize no matter jam or preserves you’ve available. Actually, for a extra genuine kolacky, you don’t even should make the cream cheese filling – simply use the jam.
- Don’t skip the refrigeration time earlier than rolling out the dough AND earlier than baking the pastries.
- Retailer the pastries in hermetic containers and preserve them refrigerated. It’s also possible to freeze the cookies for as much as 3 months. I recommend freezing them stuffed however not baked. While you want them, you possibly can thaw them on the counter after which bake them as wanted.
Serving: 1cookie | Energy: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 2g | Fats: 13g | Saturated Fats: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 3g | Trans Fats: 0.3g | Ldl cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 36mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 452IU | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Dietary information is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values might differ in response to the substances and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed information.
