I’d like to work a kolaches type cookie into the cookie roundup this year. I need some variety from all the chocolate, peanut butter!
You know the type where you fold cookie dough over a dab of jam? Anyone have a tried and true but NOT a thousand step recipe? Looking for a flaky light “cookie”.
We make these every Christmas.
The way to get light and flaky is to not overwork the dough. The dough is very simple - butter, cream cheese, flour. It is basically pie dough. So, like pie dough, you want to incorporate the ingredients but not fuss with it too much. Also, thinner dough when rolled out makes it lighter. Since the dough has so much butter and cream cheese in it, it needs to be the right temperature for rolling - not too cold or not too room temperature.
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cold (or room temp if you prefer to used a mixer)
2 cups flour
Jam or preserves, apricot (traditional) or any flavor you enjoy
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
Combine cream cheese, cold butter, and flour, cutting in small pieces of cold butter like you would for a pie dough (or soften butter and blend ingredients in a mixer. Don’t overwork. Divide dough into 3 balls, flatten, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll out a piece of dough (keep other pieces refrigerated but they might need to sit out a little while to become rollable) on a clean surface sprinkled with either confectioner’s sugar or flour, and roll until thin. Cut into 2 inch x 2 inch squares. Arrange on a cookie sheet and spoon a small dollop of jam into the center of each square (not too much or it will bubble out when baked). Bring opposite corners of each square together over the filling in the center, moistening the overlapped area with a teensy bit of water to gently seal so they won’t pop open when baking. Combine the ground nuts and sugar and sprinkle a pinch over the top of each cookie, or just sprinkle with sugar if preferred. Bake for 11-14 minutes or until lightly browned. If they popped open when baking, use a small spoon to reposition right when they come out of the oven. Scraps of dough can be rerolled once but it is helpful to re-chill the dough if it warms up.
Some folks sprinkle powdered sugar on top. I don’t.
So it’s a very rich piecrust filled with jam? Sounds delicious to me. So you want to roll it about as thin as you’d roll piecrust?
Sounds so delicious - but don’t know if I can invest in all those steps! I’ll have to think about if I’m up for baking these - I KNOW I want to eat them!!!
Sad to say, I’m more of a “mix and go” baker! But still open to other thoughts and recipes!
@“Cardinal Fang” I’d say even thinner, probably half as thin. I like mine on the delicate side. In a way, they are really similar to rugelach.
Yeah, any cookie that is rolled is going to need to be chilled first and the chilling and rolling doesn’t make it quick. Sounds like you are more of a drop or bar cookie person, @abasket! 
I just made some of these, and used a dough very similar to the one described by @doschicos. But I rolled it into a circle (very thin). Spread the stuff on the circle, the sliced it like pie. Rolled each slice from the thick end toward the pointy one.
I put them on parchment palate on a baking sheet (jam is so hard to get off), and made sure “point” was under each one (they unroll otherwise). Brushed with some milk before baking.
I made two flavors – one with cherry preserves that I mixed with my stick blender to get smooth and some toasted, chopped slivered almonds. And some with a cinnamon, sugar, raisin, walnut mixture (I zapped it a few times in my food processor to chop it up).
“Sounds so delicious - but don’t know if I can invest in all those steps!”
Everyone will still enjoy them if you buy refrigerated pie crust and use that. Do the powdered sugar dust; it makes them look fancier.
You can also buy prepared sugar cookie dough, make a thumbprint in each cookie, put some jam in the thumbprint and bake as directed.
Some people enjoy a multi-step baking project. If you don’t, it’s not worth it, even if the made-from-scratch version is 10% more delicious than the mix. (No one thinks you should make your own jam for these – the store has really good jam!) Unless you burn them black, freshly baked cookies are always going to be delicious.
Unless the prepared piecrust or the prepared sugar cookie dough is made with butter, for me the homemade is not 10% more delicious but 1000% more delicious. Butter snob here.
Yes, I know I can use refrigerated pie crust…maybe if I roll it out thinner (and watch for burning) it wouldn’t be too bad - feel like I tried this one year though the the pie crust just didn’t cut it in flavor/texture.
I wonder if there is a similar type cookie using puff pastry or something.
Honestly, I don’t think pie crust or puff pastry would be the same. It’s all about the cream cheese pastry that makes them so good. If you want something fruity and jammy but less involved, maybe some fruit squares or jam fingers.
You could always buy them and pretend they were yours. 
https://www.■■■■■■■■/listing/578919813/cream-cheese-kolachies-cookie
https://www.buttermaidbakery.com/wedding-cookies/
@doschicos Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe! When I was little–and before that, when my mother was a child–my grandmother had a Hungarian neighbor who made these, and they were divine! In recent years I have looked for recipes, but I haven’t felt certain of them.
IMNSHO, either make them the right way, or don’t bother. There are enough crappy baked goods out there.
Sorry but not sorry if this offends anyone. There are times when honoring a tradition and a craft is important.
I’ve seen recipes that use cream cheese, and recipes that use sour cream instead. The Buttermaid Bakery in doschicos’ link above uses sour cream. I doubt that the old country recipe would have used cream cheese; sour cream was a common ingredient but cream cheese? I don’t think so.
You’re welcome, @Consolation! I’ve been eating these for as long as I can remember, so a really long time!
I think most eastern European countries do some version of them and call them by different names or a variation on the spelling. As I mentioned, they taste very similar to rugelach - same cream cheese thing going on, just different shape although I find the kolacky a little more delicate and lighter. So, if you don’t want to make them, it’s probably easier to buy some decent rugelach to buy.
My guess was there was some product that was cream cheese-like back in the old country. It’s very common to these cookies as well as rugelach. Also, neufchatel and mascarpone are pretty similar to cream cheese. I’m sure other countries have their version. That item in the link is very different. Most don’t use eggs at all. Honestly, based on the photos, those ones for sale in both links look too thick and not flaky enough for my preference.
I am extremely fond of the prune flavor. 
I agree with you: both versions have pastry that looks too thick.
That is the one flavor I never cared for. I remember my great Aunt showing up with a bag full of delicious looking Paczki for all of us cousins. We were so disappointed when we found out they were filled with prune. =((
To be honest, I haven’t found a flavor I don’t love!
Prune hamentaschen beat poppyseed hamentaschen when I was a kid, but they were both booby prizes to me.
I don’t know abasket’s audience. If you’re baking for a bunch of Manhattan gourmets, the tradeoffs are different than if you’re filling the cookie jar for grandchildren. For me as a baker, kolache dough would be comfortable, but croissants or filo or home-rolled pasta would be too many steps. I’m sure there are people who wouldn’t enjoy those things store-bought, but they don’t have to eat at my house.
BTW, these are freaking awesome:
https://www.pepperidgefarm.com/product/sweet-simple-apricot-raspberry-thumbprint-cookies/
A couple of the people eating my cookies almost literally WILL BE Manhattan gourmets (haha - Brooklyn’s working in Manhattan!). I think I’ll see how the week goes - do my other “musts” first - then see if time allows for @doschicos recipe. There is a bakery very close to my house that I’m pretty sure has kolaches - and they are a legit bakery so, at worst I can get some from there!
Nothing wrong with supporting local businesses, too!