Kolachky – Slovak Cookie Recipe
Even though many Ukrainians love making Kolachky, I have been informed that the recipe actually traces back to Slovakia.
My sister in-law loves making these, and shared her recipe with me, so now I am working on perfecting these as well.
They are so light, flaky and delicious. You can fill them with fruity jams, lekvar or poppy seed filling, but I am convinced that the walnut filing is the best in taste as well as keeping the shape of these cookies during baking time.
The fruit filling tends to boil out a little and ooze out onto the baking sheet, however the poppy seed not as much, and the walnut filling even less.
One recipe yields at least 3 doz. cookies, depending on the size you choose.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. butter (4 sticks), softened
- 1 lb. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 4 cups all-purpose flour (I use Gold Medal)
- Powdered sugar for dusting before serving
- Filling of your choice
- 1 lbs. ground walnuts
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 2 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks
Instructions
- In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter with cream cheese until well blended and creamy. Slowly blend in the flour, until well incorporated.
- Divide the batter into 8 equal parts, and flatten each, then wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate over night.
- Sprinkle your work surface with mixture of flour and powdered sugar. Working with 1 cooled batter section at a time, roll out into a 1/8 inch or thinner rectangle.
- Using a pizza cutter, cut the rolled out dough into 4 x 4 inch squares.
- spread 1 tsp. of filling along the top edge of the square, then fold over and roll down toward the bottom of the square. Make sure the seam is located under the roll when placing it onto an ungreased parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Space them about 1/2 inch apart, to allow for spreading during baking.
- Press them down gently, so they don't unroll.
- Bake 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven to 350 degrees F.
- Watch closely after the first 20 minutes, so they become golden, but do not burn.
- Remove the pan from the oven, and cool down for 5 minutes, then using a small spatula, remove cookies onto a cooling rack to cool off completely.
- Before serving, sprinkle tops with powdered sugar.
- Mix the sugar with finely ground walnuts, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
- Fold in the egg whites, then gently mix in the honey.
Notes
2022 I adjusted the filling instructions to skip the cooking part, and just mix all the ingredients as listed, making sure honey is mixed in at the end. My sister-in-law confirmed that is how she does it now. The original melting of the sugar was very difficult and unnecessary.
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