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Kolaczki (Polish filled cookies)

by 83 Comments

Recipes know no borders, Kolaczki are popular in Poland as well as the Czech Republic, Russia, Austria, Denmark, and probably more places.

As you might expect there are multiple spellings for this pastry, but Kolaczki seems the most Polish to me.

 

Normally, I’d expect to see these on a Christmas cookie tray, but I made them recently, as things are starting to warm up in Tucson because I needed a breakfast pastry to share with new friends.

Earlier this year, Ed and I heard about a small group of people who gather at one of the bars in downtown Tucson early on Sunday mornings to watch Premier League football (soccer) from the UK.

The time difference does make for early matches in our time zone. Let’s just say that at 8:00 AM on a Sunday morning, there is no traffic; we have no trouble finding a parking place.

Polish filled cookies, kolaczki, on a cooling rack

We found the most wonderful community. Small but tightly knit and very inviting. European football doesn’t have a huge following stateside, but these die-hard fans support our local, semi-pro team, and on Sunday mornings, they get together to watch the big guys.

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People will ask who we’re rooting for, but we don’t really have a favorite in the Premier League. It’s just fun to watch a good match, the more scoring the better.

Kolaczki - Polish Cookies in aluminum pan in sports bar

As I said, the customers and the bartender are very hospitable, every Sunday, someone stops to pick up donuts or cookies on their way. The box gets passed around the bar, and if you’re still hungry, about 9:00, they’ll serve breakfast to go with your coffee.

After a few weeks, Ed suggested that I bring something the following week. Thanks to all of you who chimed in on the PH facebook page when I asked about your favorite flavor.

In the end, I made apricot, probably the most popular response and cranberry because I had a big Costco sized bag in the pantry. A couple of recipes, in particular, inspired this baking: Allrecipes and The Spruce.

I cooked the dried fruit in a little water with a squirt of lemon juice and just a smidge of sugar until if was soft, then I blitzed it with an immersion blender. You could also use a canned filling or jam if you’re pressed for time.

The hard part was getting them to stay folded over while baking. I’m a pretty experienced baker and I was surprised by how stubbornly many of the Kolaczki opened up like a blooming flower while baking. It was a pity, but we had to eat those. I couldn’t take imperfect baked goods!

I’m sure I’ll be making these again.

Smacznego!

Lois

The Amazon links below are affiliate links, meaning Amazon sends me a few cents if you make a purchase

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Kolaczki - Polish Cookies

Kolaczki (Polish filled cookies)

★★★★★ 5 from 11 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A rich pastry with fruit fillings

Scale

Ingredients

For the pastry:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups butter
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling

  • 3/4 cup dried apricots (or other dried fruit)
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Cream the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy
  2. Stir in flour and salt
  3. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour
  4. Preheat oven to 350
  5. Roll out the dough by first dusting the surface (mat or counter top) with sugar
  6. Roll to 1/4 inch and cut into 2 inch squares
  7. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each square
  8. Fold over opposite corners and seal well
  9. Bake for 15 minute or until corners just begin to brown
  10. Cool and dust with powdered sugar

For filling:

  1. Add apricots and water to a saucepan
  2. Add 2 tablespoons sugar
  3. Simmer until apricots are tender, about 15 minutes
  4. Mash or puree with immersion blender

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Oh drool! I grew up on these and they are truly irresistible. It’s sad though, that when you purchase them at a Polish store, they are truly awful. When you make them at home they disappear very quickly. Sinfully good! I always use the Solo (canned) apricot filling.

    ★★★★★

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  2. I make powidla every autumn and use them as filling. Thank you for your stories, Lois….I enjoy reading them before I get into the recipe.

    ★★★★★

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  3. I make these every Christmas, with Solo poppyseed and almond. Solo has the dough recipe on the cans My grandma made these and also the rolls. I can’t find a good and successful recipe for the nut rolls.

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  4. Love these!!! My grandma and her sister would come to visit us every summer for 2 weeks, and this is one of the things we would make – lots of them, except instead of butter, we used lard… We used the Solo filling, too. Thanks for the directions on using dried apricots!

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    • I just got this tip from Darlene today:

      Good Day! I just finished baking some cookies- out family favorite- and I wanted to post about them so I wanted to ensure that I was spelling the name correctly, so I asked Siri. Within the list of results was your recipe for kolaczki’s! ahHA! So that’s how it is correctly spelled! I read your article and saw that you had difficulty keeping the folded edges closed while baking so here’s the key to success: After filling, using a small bowl of ice water, lightly moisten a fingertip and touch one corner of your cookie. Take that corner, lift it to the center, lift the opposite corner and pinch the wet spot onto the opposite corner to meld them together. Finally, roll it down or fold it over. Sealed. They will not open if you have sealed it by blending both sides of the cookie together.

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  11. Same. My family makes these every year and these are my absolute favorite. We only use solo filling and apricot and Plum only. Since my Dad recently passed, in honor of him I’m going to teach my best friend how to make these like he taught me.

    ★★★★★

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  12. In Poland do they say kolaczki or kołaczki? My family says kolaczki but I’ve heard the other pronunciation too. Thanks!

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  13. This is my first attempt to make these. I’m having a terrible time teying to roll the pastry. I used granulated and powdered sugar but it stickes like glue to my rolling pin. Chilled the dough for several hours. Too hard to roll at first then it suddenly gets too soft too work. Do i need more flour? My first few expanded alot when baked- way too big.

    Reply

  14. Hi there, I have made these for years. My Irish mother taught me! Made them from her Polish mother-in-laws recip, my Busha!
    It is really a technique cookie over an ingredient one. My ingredients are simple, 2-2-2. Cups of flour, sticks of softened butter, and squares of cream cheese, softened. Cream cheese came in 4 oz. squares back then.
    I think it is helpful to chill the dough for hours, overnight, days if you want to have it ready to make before a party. Then when you roll it out, I use more flour, it is important to roll it when it is just soft enough To Stick. Meaning, dont let it get too soft so that you roll in too much flour and then it won’t stay wrapped. Practice helps. Enjoy!

    .

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  15. My grandmother was Pennsylvania Dutch/German, she called these Kiffels, and used flour mixes with granulated sugar on the board and rolling pin, and we used walnuts, apricot and lekvar – prune butter for gillings. A tradition to make these every holiday.

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  16. My family always made them with a crushed nut/cinnamon/sugar filling held together with just a little milk. Egg wash right before they bake. They always stayed rolled nicely. Old family recipe.

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  17. This cookie sounds fabulous but have never heard of it. My parents were both Polish so I’m surprised they never made them or spoke if them. I will try to add these to my repertoire of Christmas cookies. Kruschiki have always been on the Christmas list.

    Reply

  19. I am so excited to find this page and this recipe! My Grandma makes apricot and walnut kolaczki but also a walnut/brown sugar filling one as well. I’m so excited to try this out!

    ★★★★★

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  20. I am Hispanic and I love these. I chill the dough and roll out between sheets of wax paper. No problems with
    dough sticking to the rolling pin.

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  21. Had a hard time keeping fold together. will try and use more water on the edges when I fold them next time. Filled with a cream cheese filling. Taste was very good.

    Reply

  22. This is the same recipe my polish mom used. Homemade apricot filling is the best . She also rolled out in powdered sugar and sprinkled more powdered sugar before filling them and after they are baked. I found the easiest way to roll out the dough is between 2 pieces of parchment paper dusted with powdered sugar. Then to remove the paper easily, lay it in the freezer for a couple of minutes and it peels off nicely. My problem was getting the thickness of the dough right. Alas she is no longer here to help with that.

    ★★★★★

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  23. Hi, I love the cheese filling but how do I make that or what can I use? I have to agree with buying these in a bakery, I just went to the bakery today and they were aweful, stale!! Yuk.(shouldn’t a bakery cookie be fresh?) I swore never again will i buy cookies like these from a bakery so I will be making them from now on.

    Reply

  24. I ate a few of these at a cookie swap. They were addictive! Please tell me the correct size for the squares. Another suggestion for keeping them sealed would be an egg mixture. A little dab on one corner should do it.

    Reply

    • At our church we cut a 2.5-2.75 inch square. That allows you to tuck the edge under the pastry eliminating the need to use water or egg “glue.” We also roll the dough between parchment paper (no added flour or sugar) to 1/4 inch and refrigerate the sheets of dough for a half hour or more. Take one sheet out of the fridge at a time. Gently peel one side. Flip it over with the parchment still on then gently peel the 2nd side. Cut squares and fill diagonally. Fold one corner over the filling with the dough tightly against the filling. Roll the already folded side over the second corner. Tuck the second corner under the pastry and place on a parchment covered sheet. They look differently- longer and slightly taller. Our dough recipe is 1 pound each of cream cheese and butter blended well then add 660 grams of flour. This recipe is baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. We make more than 1,000 kolachy (another spelling) every month and sell them at farmers markets.

      Reply

  28. Hi. I’m looking for a recipe my family always made for Christmas. It is a braided bread not sure of the spelling in polish but phonetically it would be plachunka. Can you help?

    Reply

  29. My family has made a cookie very similar to these filling with egg white whipped stiff and laced with nuts, also have used solo almond filling and prune filling. Mom would make these between Thanksgiving and Christmas and store them in a large roasting pan on the stairs to the attic, or at least she did until my brother and I found them and would raid the roasting pan. I had hoped to make the this year but life as gotten in the way where I’ve run out of time. We lived in ?Detroit MI until the early 60’s when we moved to Tucson AZ because of my father’s health. We have always called the cookies European Cookies or Roski.

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  30. Try using a 1/2 cup of sour cream instead of the cheese – really good and what my great gram used 150 years ago.

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  31. I am very confused. I grew up in a community with a large eastern European immigrant population. Have had lots of kolachi in my life. Made kolachi and still admire the churches that still gather the old Babba’s to make them for the yearly church fundraiser. Most were nut filled. Llevar and sometimes apricot. They never look like a pastry. Your cookies look like Rugulas, which I believe is a German cookie. They are good cookies, but do not compare to the Kolachi of our ethnic neighborhoods.

    Reply

  32. My daughter and I just made these tonight for a party that she has scheduled for Wednesday in school. How would you recommend I store these? (I haven’t dusted any powder sugar on them yet.) I wondered if they’ll get soggy? By the way, they turned out AMAZING! My 8 year old said they’re better than chocolate chip cookies!!! Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Hi Kate, I’m so happy to hear that your family loved the kolaczki. Better than chocolate chip is high praise indeed! I would store the cool cookies, tightly covered, and sprinkle with powdered sugar when you’re ready to send them to school.

      Reply

  33. I have a kolachki recipe from a Russian lady that truly isn’t as easy as this but my family really loves it. I make and used to sell many, many dozens every year and gave many to friends and family. My girls all make them and now the grands have started making them as well.

    Reply

  34. I have made kolaczkifor over 50 years, since I married into a Polish, Lithuanian family. I have always gotten a flaky, sweet dough with a much more complicated dough of egg yolks, heavy cream, butter, Crisco, flour, yeast and vanilla. I will try these to see if they are close to mine since they are so easy. I love the sweetness of my dough, but I am getting old for this heavy duty Stuff!

    Reply

  35. These have always been my favorite cookie since I was a child. I find the trick to keep them from opening is to use a tiny bit of the filling on the top of your finger as a “glue” as you’re folding them. This will help but if they still open up on you there is another little trick I’ve used. They’re very moldable while they’re still hot. As soon as they come out of the oven I will re seal them and but other cookies up against them to keep them closed as they cool. It will really cut down on the “rejects”…. even though they’re always the first to get eaten lol
    And

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  36. I’m really looking forward to trying these out. Can you tell me if it’s possible to make in advance and freeze the dough? Or even if anyone has ever successfully frozen them when made? Thank you

    Reply

    • Hi Rebecca, I have frozen them. I don’t add powdered sugar until ready to serve. If they seem a little soft when they thaw, pop them in the oven for a couple of minutes, then cool and add powdered sugar.

      Reply

  37. 1st time I made this didn’t read the recipe and used flour for rolling, which I should have rolled the dough thinner but when I realized it asked for sugar I said oops then went ahead and sprinkled sugar on top before I filled, to give the dough a little bit more sweetness. This time I did it exactly as the recipe stated and there was too much sugar in the dough when rolling it. It’s more helpful to use flour first then sprinkle the top with sugar when you’re about to cut them. I will try again, they are delicious I just want to perfect it.

    Reply

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