I’m not sure whether or not this is actually considered a cookie, but these are so good that it doesn’t really matter! Besides, I like to share cookie recipes that are a little different from what we traditionally see during the holidays. My final treat for “cookie week” is a raspberry kolacky. I first tasted one of these a little over a year ago and immediately liked them. What’s not to love about raspberry preserves wrapped in cream cheese pastry dough, dusted with confectioners’ sugar?
I did a little research and kolacky were originally from Central Europe and exclusively a sweet pastry. I wanted to stick with that tradition even though I see savory versions of this at some bakeries (primarily cheese filled). Since raspberry is one of my favorite flavors I decided to use this as the filling, but think it would also be delicious with apricot preserves. While I have seen these cookies in a variety of different shapes, the shape in my recipe below is the most common. Actually, you can make it any shape you’d like, but don’t overlook the most important feature – the size. This should only be a tw0-bite treat!
Makes 18 cookies
Ingredients
- 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-12 oz. jar raspberry preserves
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Using a pastry blender or food processor, cut the butter into the cream cheese. In a small bowl, sift the flour, granulated sugar, salt and baking powder. Work the dry ingredients into the butter/cream cheese mixture until you have an even, mealy texture. Knead to form a stiff dough. If the dough gets too soft, refrigerate for about five minutes before finishing. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness.
Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into 3 inch diameter cookies (I used a square cutter). Keep re-rolling the dough and cutting until you have used it all.
Position each piece of dough so that it’s facing you in a diamond shape. Using your thumb, make a depression in the middle of each cookie. Place 1/2 teaspoon of filling into the depression and fold opposite ends over each other and pinch to seal.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let cool completely on a rack. Before serving, dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar. Store in an airtight container.
adapted from a recipe found here
I grew up with these cookies, from the Polish community my parents served as doctors. I always wondered what they were called!
Is the dough similar to rugelach?
My mother, who was Italian, used to make these at Christmas time, filled with Lekvar, a kind of prune jam. I always loved these and hope to make a batch before Christmas. Thanks for the memory.
Yes, the dough has a very similar feel to rugelach dough. Enjoy!
I grew up with this cookies as well, my mom used to add apricot & date filling as well as the raspberry filling to the pastry dough. One of my favorite Christmas cookies of all time!
These look like Hungarian kifli – my favorites at Christmas. Yum!
These look amazing…Thanks!
My Grandmother (Polish) had made something similar when I was a kid.
These look yummy!
I like any cookies that sounds like someone I went o high school with! Congrats on your top 9 honors.
I don’t care what they are called, I’d eat a whole batch of them. They look delicious.
My mom used to make these, too. They make any time of year make it feel like the holidays.
So I made these last night – and when baking, the preserves ‘melted’ [spread?] all over the baking sheets. They were still good, but lost that classy look to them. :/
Sorry to hear about the “melting” – I’m glad they tasted good! Perhaps you could try a different brand of raspberry jam or slightly reduce some of the jam so that there isn’t as much to get all over. Thanks for the message!