Marianne's Kolachkies

Kolachkies (also spelled kolaczki or kolacky) are the Polish-American Christmas cookie that every grandmother seems to have a slightly different recipe for. The dough is a simple equation of butter, cream cheese, and flour, with a single egg and a splash of vanilla to bind it. No sugar in the dough itself. The sweetness comes entirely from the apricot filling tucked into each thumbprint.

The pound of butter and full block of cream cheese are doing serious work. As the cookies bake, the cream cheese steam pockets create the trademark flaky, almost laminated layers. Use full-fat block cream cheese, never reduced fat. The water content of low-fat product will turn the dough into glue.

Chilling for several hours is a must. The cold dough rolls out without sticking and holds its shape during baking, so the thumbprint stays neat instead of spreading flat.

A ¼-inch thickness is the sweet spot. Roll thinner and the dough cracks around the filling. Roll thicker and you get bready, undercooked centers.

Kitchen Tips

• Bring butter and cream cheese fully to room temperature before creaming. Cold blocks won’t mix smoothly and leave streaks.
• Use a thick fruit preserve or pastry filling, not a thin jam. Runny fillings boil over the sides during baking.
• Sprinkle baked, cooled cookies with powdered sugar for the traditional finish.
• Freeze unbaked, filled cookies on a sheet pan, then transfer to bags. Bake from frozen, adding 2 to 3 minutes to the time.

Variations

• Use raspberry, prune (lekvar), poppy seed, or sweetened cream cheese filling instead of apricot.
• Fold in a tablespoon of orange zest with the vanilla for a citrus note.
• Cut into squares and fold opposite corners over the filling for a classic kolacky shape.