❤ Easy Kolacky Christmas Recipe ❤

This recipe for round Eastern European kolacky uses baking powder, cream cheese, and butter in the dough to make a flaky pastry topped with sweet fruit preserves or sweet cheese.

These pastries are also spelled kołaczki in Polish. They can be made in a wide variety of shapes, including foldovers and rolls filled with fruit preserves. This recipe takes the easier, but still traditional, route and makes a pastry simply topped with the preserves or sweet cheese filling as you desire. You can use a round cookie cutter as shown or make them into squares, diamonds, or other shapes.

You’ll have to plan ahead a little, as you’ll need to refrigerate the dough for a few hours or overnight before you roll it out, top it, and bake it. That can make it a project to complete with your kids or grandkids. Children enjoy making the thumbprint in the cookies where you’ll add the sweet filling.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (12.5 ounce) can apricot fruit filling (such as Solo(R))
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl; beat with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar into the butter mixture. Slowly beat in the flour; mix well. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.
2. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. On a well floured board, roll out chilled dough to 1/8 inch. Use a pizza wheel to cut dough into 2 1/2 inch squares. Spoon approximately 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each square; do not overfill. Fold opposite corners of each square into the middle to encase dough, pinching dough together in center. Filling should peek out a little at each end. Transfer cookies to an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake the kolacky in the preheated oven until set but not brown, about 12 minutes. Remove to racks to cool. Dust cooled kolacky with remaining powdered sugar.

Enjoy!!