Mom's beloved Christmas Cookie recipe is out! These colorful Kolachy cookies are a jam-filled family favorite made with cream cheese pastry.
What are kolachy?
Kolachy Cookies (kolache, kolaczki, kolacky) are traditional Eastern European pastry cookies. The pastry dough is made with cream cheese, butter and flour, folded and filled with jam, and topped with finely chopped nuts or powdered sugar.
This Christmas cookie recipe comes from Jackie's mom, who has been making these bite sized, delicious cookies for as long as she can remember. And like her famous Rugelach, we look forward to them every year.
This recipe is rather simple to make. It just requires a little planning, as the dough needs to be refrigerated before the cookies are assembled.
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Ingredients
- BUTTER: soft butter (we use unsalted butter) or margarine
- CREAM CHEESE: soft cream cheese
- FLOUR: AP flour (all purpose flour)
- FRUIT PRESERVES (JELLY): we like to use different flavors: peach, apricot, blackberry, cherry, or strawberry jam
- EGG: egg yolk
- MILK: full fat milk, skim milk or nut milk
- NUTS: we like pecans, finely chopped
- POWDERED SUGAR: Confectioner's sugar
*see recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- Cream Butter and Cream Cheese: with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer, cream softened butter and cream cheese until light.
- Add Flour: stir in flour, mixing well.
- Refrigerate: refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
- Preheat oven: after dough is refrigerated, pre-heat oven to 400° F.
- Roll Out Dough: turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Roll out into a 12 inch square.
- Cut into Squares: with a sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut dough into 2"squares.
- Add Filling: place about ¼ teaspoon jelly near center of each square, then fold over to form a triangle and press edges together to seal.
- Brush: brush top of each mixture with beaten egg yolk mixed with milk, sprinkle with nuts.
- Place on cookie sheet: place cookies on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake: bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
- Cool: transfer baked cookies to wire rack to cool.
- Dust: dust cookies with confectioner sugar.
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Top tip
Use thick fruit jam or (pie filling) that is not watery. That way it will not leak out while the cookies are baking.
Variations
- JAM: use different flavors of fruit jam within one batch of cookies to make a colorful presentation. We like apricot jam, raspberry jam, blackberry jam, and strawberry jam.
- NUTS: try chopped pecans or walnuts. Chop nuts finely for best results
- CREAM CHEESE: add a small dollop of cream cheese to the jam filling for a creamy bite.
- SWEET TOPPING: dust cookies with powdered sugar sanding sugar.
Storage
- Make Ahead: pastry dough can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 day
- Store: baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container (in layers, separated by wax paper) at room temperature.
- Freeze baked cookies can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
More Christmas cookies
FAQ
We prefer unsalted butter for this recipe, but you can use salted butter or margarine as well. Just make sure the butter in softened to room temperature.
Yes. This is a very important step in the process. It locks in the flavors of the pastry and keeps the dough from spreading while the cookies are baking.
Kolachy cookies taste best within 5 days of baking.
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kolachy cookie recipe
Mom's beloved Christmas Cookie recipe is out! These colorful Kolachy cookies are a jam-filled family favorite made with cream cheese pastry.
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 3 dozen 1x
Ingredients
- ½ C soft butter or margarine
- 1 package (3 ounces) soft cream cheese
- 1 C AP flour
- About ¼ C of each of 3 preserves (we used peach, blackberry & strawberry)
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp milk
- ¼ C finely chopped nuts (we like pecans)
- Confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- With a wooden spoon, cream butter and cream cheese until light.
- Stir in flour, mixing well. Refrigerate 1 hour
- Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 400°.
- Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface; roll out into a 12 inch square.
- With a sharp knife or pastry wheel cut dough into 2"squares.
- Place about ¼ teaspoon jelly near center of each square, then fold over to form a triangle and press edges together to seal.
- Brush top of each mixture with beaten egg yolk mixed with milk, sprinkle with nuts.
- Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown and transfer to wire rack to cool.
- Dust cookies with confectioner sugar.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Cookie
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
- Calories: 191
- Sugar: 3.4 g
- Sodium: 60.1 mg
- Fat: 10.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.6 g
- Protein: 4.7 g
- Cholesterol: 48 mg
Stephanie McQuillen says
Definitely one of my favorites.
Jackie says
ours too! thanks so much!!
Francine says
What kind(s) of chopped nuts do you usually use?
Jackie says
Hi Francine,
Thanks for stopping by! My mom always put chopped pecans on her version. I would recommend sticking with that, but almonds and walnuts would work too. PLEASE let us know how they turn out!!
Julie Schuler says
Can you freeze these cookies once you sprinkle the walnuts over the cookie? I would like to make these for Christmas but would like to make this week prior to Thanksgiving holiday.
Thank you so much!!
Jackie says
Hi Julie,
Thanks so much for stopping by! These are one of my favorite cookies my mom makes. You will love them!
We checked with her on this one, and she said you should be able to make the cookies ahead of time (with the nuts) and freeze them. We recommend placing them in an airtight container with layers of parchment paper in between. Please let us know how they turn out!