Any time there’s a gathering you want something really special to serve. Cakes are great, but in many families cookies are the star of the show. They’re certainly easier to serve than cakes and require no utensils to enjoy- making them ideal for family get togethers with lots of people.
These Polish kolache cookies are a staple dessert in many areas. This cookie has been spelled different ways, but the pronunciation is “co-watch-key” in Poland and “co-latch-y” in the US. However you say it or spell the name, these cookies are simply divine.
Kolache Cookies
They have a rich cookie dough base that’s not sweet. This is countered with a dollop of sweet jam or preserves in the middle. Together they make the ideal combination and I can speak from experience here that one is never enough of these fabulous cookies.
The base recipe only has 6 ingredients- making it super simple to buy for and to prepare. The only bother about these cookies is that you have to chill the dough before you can make work them into shape.
Kolache Cookies
To make these cookies you’ll need to chill the dough first as it is very soft. That’s thanks to some cream cheese in the mix which gives it just a bit of a lovely tart flavor. Once chilled roll the dough out and then cut into squares.
If you have a hard time eyeballing equal squares then you can make a template or you just can wing it like I did. You want the squares to be about 2 1/2″ long on each edge and about 1/4″ thick. These do puff up a bit in the oven so there’s no need to make them thicker unless you just like them that way.
Kolache Cookies
To give some variety I made one batch of these cookies filled with apricot preserves and one with black currant jam. You can use whichever jams you like for these cookies. I would advise jams and preserves over jellies so that the filling doesn’t run out onto the pan when baking. The thicker ones do best with the high temperature.
On that note, you only need a little bit of jam on each square. Over-filling can also cause these to leak. An optional last step is to dust the cookies with some powdered sugar, but I love them plain, too!
Kolache Cookies
Now you can taste what generations of Polish families consider an essential part of festive celebrations.
