Polish Kolatchkies

I still have the baking and cooking bug; since taking that really great three day course last week. So I decided to try Polish Kolatchkies today.

I suppose I should preface this discussion with a comment or two. First, I am a better cook than I am a baker; second, I love baked cookies and my favorites are butter cookies half-dipped in chocolate...but that is definitely for another day.

So the recipe for Kolatchkies is almost astoundingly simple:

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 lb butter unsalted
2 cups flour
jelly, jam or other fruit for filling

mix the cheese, butter and flour to a smooth consistency, then refrigerate till firm.

Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into 2" squares (I would go with 3" squares if I had it to do over)

Place the dough on a cookie sheet place a 1/2 teaspoon of filling in the center, pinch at least 2 opposite corners, or all 4 if you like..also for real easy clean up, line the pan with parchment paper..no mess at all.

Bake at 350 for 18 - 20 minutes.

Yes, it is just that simple.

Here are the photos of my first efforts...like I said, I would do 3 x 3 squares since the jelly oozes out of smaller sizes and they tend to come undone.

Here I am cutting the dough into three separate sections for rolling out. I put the unused portion back in the fridge until I was ready for the next batch. Keep the dough cold always.

Rolling out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness happens pretty quickly, again parchment paper helps to keep the mess to a minium. Also, I found using a pizza wheel makes cutting them a breeze
Placing the dough on the baking sheet with enough space so they don;t touch each other...they get smaller once you start pinching the edges
Here is where you have to be careful, if the jelly smears to the edges, you can't pinch it closed. Most of these cookies came open, so next time I will make a bigger square and pinch harder..I was very gentle with these.
If you take the cookies off the tray right out of the oven, any spillage will easily be left behind and the cookie will look much better for it

I'll try another batch next week for bringing to the Village Singers concert...it will be nice for the people who come to hear us sing to have some good home-made cookies. By then I should be able to make a pretty good looking and tasting cookie!