Kolaczki - Jam-Filled Polish Cookies

Kolaczki are delicious jam-filled cookies made with a tender cream cheese dough and then sprinkled with confectioners sugar. They are popular in Poland during the holidays.

Kolaczki are soft and sweet and completely festive! You don't have to wait until Christmas to enjoy them either. These cookies are also super fun to make with kids or friends, kind of like a dumpling or tamale party!

The dough is totally easy to make in your stand mixer. If you don't have a stand mixer, a hand mixer will work well too. You just have to plan ahead a little to allow for the time to chill the dough.

You can make them with different flavors of jams or preserves. I had a few small jars of jam I received in a Christmas basket that I used up to make these Kolaczki.

How to make Kolaczki: 

First, cream butter and cream cheese together and then add in sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla.

Next, whisk together flour, ground cardamom, and salt and then slowly incorporate it into the butter and cream cheese mixture. At this point, you will need to chill the dough for at least two hours to firm it up because it's a pretty sticky dough.

After that you will roll out the dough to 1/6 to 1/8 inch thick and cut it into 2 1/2 inch squares. Drop some jam in the middle of the squares and fold two opposite corners toward the middle over the jam.

Be sure to seal the corners together with a bit of water so that the cookies don't open up like this (I only had 4 casualties).

Bake the cookies for just 12 minutes, until they are very lightly golden. You will have to let them cool on a wire rack.

Once they have cooled, move them back to the baking sheet so that you can sprinkle them with the confectioners' sugar.

Once the cookies are baked and cooled, dust them with powdered sugar and serve. You can wait to dust them with the sugar right before serving, or sprinkle on the sugar right away.

These cookies will keep well at room temperature in an air tight container for up to four days.

Ideas for filling these kolaczki: 

I filled these cookies with thick jams and preserves.

You can also make a thick filling by cooking dried fruit into a jam-like consistency. Examples of dried fruit fillings include prune lekvar in these hamantaschen cookies or apricot jam from dried apricots in these Danish pastries.

While I've never used this product, I found that many bakers like to use premade fillings from a company called Solo (not an affiliated link) in Kolaczki. I might just have to give it a try.

Tips for success making these Kolaczki: 

To cut the cookies, you can use a 2 1/2 inch square cookie cutter if you have one. All of my square cookie cutters are scalloped, so I used a ruler and a pizza wheel to cut the dough. This method resulted in a lot less scraps to gather up and re-roll.

You can try rolling out the dough on your work surface, but I prefer to roll out sticky dough between two pieces of parchment or wax paper that have been lightly floured. After rolling, I can lift off the top piece, place it back on, flip the whole thing, and lift off the other piece. This makes cutting and moving the squares super easy, and nothing sticks to the rolling pin.

Finally, to get the dough to a uniform thickness, I like to use a rolling pin with measuring rings. My two favorites are the Joseph Joseph and this Adjustable Rolling Pin. (affiliate links). 

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Kolaczki - Jam-Filled Polish Cookies

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Yield: 22 cookies

Author: Karen Kerr

Kolaczki are delicious jam-filled cookies made with a tender cream cheese dough. They are sprinkled with confectioners sugar. They are popular in Poland during the holidays.

Ingredients:

• 113 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 115 grams (4 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 40 grams (1/3 cup) confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 156 grams (1 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup jam or preserves

Instructions:

1. Beat the butter and cream cheese with the paddle attachment in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for about 1 minutes, until smooth.
2. Add the confectioners' sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla and beat for another minute on medium speed until smooth. 
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cardamom, and salt. 
4. Slowly add the flour to the butter and cream cheese mixture and mix on low until combined. 
5. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and shape it into a 6 inch square and wrap it in the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. 
6. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
7. Roll the dough out between two floured pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch squares and place the squares on the baking sheets. 
8. Drop 3/4 teaspoon of jam in the middle of each square and fold 2 opposite corners over to the middle and seal with a little bit of water. 
9. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for about 12 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool on the pan for a minute or two and then transfer to a cooling rack. When the cookies are cooled, dust with confectioners' sugar. 

Calories
104.38

Fat (grams)
6.04

Sat. Fat (grams)
3.66

Carbs (grams)
11.52

Fiber (grams)
0.29

Net carbs
11.23

Sugar (grams)
4.79

Protein (grams)
1.13

Sodium (milligrams)
43.04

Cholesterol (grams)
16.32

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2020/09/kolaczki-jam-filled-polish-cookies.html

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Kolaczki, Cookies

Dessert,

Polish

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Recipe adapted from Bake from Scratch, November/December 2019. If you love baking, I highly recommend subscribing to this magazine.