Kolacky

Submitted by R.Stork

"We've been making this cookies on the Slovak side of my family for generations and they are my favorite! They take a lot of work but taste much better than the kind you can get in the store and well worth it! Also, the filling can be made or bought (we find Solo brand is best), but it is often hard to find the nut kind so I have included instructions for that as well."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 70 75
• Serves: 20

ingredients

• Pastry Dough

• 8 ounces cream cheese (Philadelphia)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 egg yolks (save the whites for nut filling)
• 1⁄2 lb unsalted butter
• 3 cups flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Nut Filling

• 1 lb walnuts (without shells-crushed)
• 1⁄4 lb melted butter
• 1⁄2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1⁄2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon

directions

1. Mix softened cream cheese, softened butter, baking powder, and egg yolks with a pastry blender.
2. Mix in sour cream and sift in flour.
3. Add vanilla and knead the dough until your hands are clean (i.e. it all sticks together and is a uniform mixture).
4. Roll into 1/4 cup balls and refrigerate overnight (~8 hrs).
5. Prepare the filling (if store-bought, skip this step). Beat the egg white until it is foamy. Mix with crushed walnuts, melted butter, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon. Store in the refrigerator.
6. Preheat the oven to 350.
7. Roll dough flat, using flour to prevent sticking to surface and rolling pin. Only remove what dough from the refrigerator that you are currently rolling (leave the rest of the dough balls in the fridge to keep firm).
8. Use a square-shaped cookie cutter to cut squares out of the dough. Place a little filling in the middle of the square. Then pinch 2 opposite corners together. Fold this over and pinch again. (This step is a bit of a personal preference, there are many different ways to shape and fill kolacky).
9. Bake 9-12 minutes on a non-stick pan, or until light brown.

Reviews

[mlj1954]

There are different kinds of "kolacky." This is the one that I grew up with, as did my Polish husband. The other kind is a yeast based one. Be sure you know which one you want. For this one, we usually use Solo fillings.

 

[nonnie4sj]

This recipe produced nice little filled cookies. It wasn't precisely what I was looking for however. Here in the Hinterlands, I know a kolacky to be a sweet bread roll with filling, and this recipe was far from that. Made for Spring 2008 PAC.