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Kolachke (Glazed Polish Pastry)

Kolachkes-claimed by both Poles and Czechs-are round pastries topped with either poppy seeds, nuts, jam, or a mashed fruit mixture. Karen Maderich's heirloom recipe was a first-place winner of Martha Stewart Living Television's Cookie of the Week Contest.
Martha Stewart Living, February 2000
  • Yield Makes about 4 dozen
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Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
  • 1 (2 1/4 teaspoons) package active dry yeast
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 cup fruit preserves
  • Sugar Glaze

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine sour cream and yeast in a small bowl. Set aside until slightly bubbly, about 10 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in egg until smooth. Set aside.

  2. Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until it resembles coarse meal. Stir in sour-cream mixture until dough comes together.

  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 2 1/2-inch rounds. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let sit for 15 minutes.

  4. Make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Fill each thumbprint with 1 teaspoon preserves. Bake until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer pans to rack to cool. Let cookies cool on pans for 5 minutes. Remove cookies to rack. While cookies are still warm, drizzle with sugar glaze.

Recipe Reviews

  • Dan Timmons
    23 Dec, 2012

    My Bussia came over from Poland and when she made Kolachke's they were a cream cheese dough then filled . These are good but I don't think they are Kolachke's.

  • jengl
    25 Mar, 2012

    Pretty good. My husband liked them a lot. Tried several different fillings, mostly different flavored yogurts, and they were all good. Would have liked to try a 'cheesecake-type' filling but had no cream cheese, next time though. I think I will also try some almond flavoring in the pastry next time.

  • ljwaldron
    23 Mar, 2012

    I used a combination of butter & cream cheese, also nonfat Greek yogurt rather than sour cream. I did not get 4 doz, but I made them a little larger than recommended. Still I doubt 4 doz is possible unless you make them truly minis. I will definite try the recipe again, the kolachkes I remember we're squares with 2 sides folded over jam. Think I'll do it that way next time. We alsways drizzled frosting, my grandma came from Poland and that was how she always made them.

  • murphykami
    19 Mar, 2012

    Being Czech I can say this is not traditional Bohemian recepy. As a toping we do not use sugar frosting but mixture of flour, butter and sugar in sort of a dry consistency.

  • jacquelinehp
    18 Mar, 2012

    Do you think you could use Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream?

  • jcafeld
    18 May, 2010

    I followed the recipe exactly and got about 26 cookies. 4 dozen? Not a chance!

  • beijingPTA
    2 Mar, 2009

    Do you think that they can be frozen for even a short period of time, say 1 week?

  • beijingPTA
    2 Mar, 2009

    Do you think that they can be frozen for even a short period of time, say 1 week?

  • beijingPTA
    2 Mar, 2009

    Do you think that they can be frozen for even a short period of time, say 1 week?

  • nancybethr
    4 Dec, 2008

    I'm coming clean. This recipe is better than my mother's, my mother-in-laws and all of my other Czech relatives. They all do variations of the the cream cheese recipe and I find them not nearly as light and flaky as these with the yeast. Only change is I don't frost them, just powered sugar. Thanks Martha!

  • chmurag
    30 Nov, 2008

    These are absolutely delicious and surprisingly easy to make. The dough is so flaky that it tastes like puff pastry. A big hit for the holidays! I used apricot on some and raspberry on others.