Cream Cheese Kolacky
These tender, flaky cream cheese kolacky fold rich butter and cream cheese pastry around sweet fruit centers. After a 1-hour chill, the yeast-free dough bakes into 60 festive cookies finished with powdered sugar.
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Wire Racks
- Plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 8 ounce package cream cheese (softened)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 ounce can fruit pastry filling
Instructions
- Beat the softened butter with the cream cheese, then blend in the vanilla once the mixture becomes fluffy. Look for an evenly combined mixture without visible cream cheese lumps.
- Stir the salt through the flour in a separate bowl, then work this mixture into the butter mixture in four additions, incorporating each portion before adding the next. The flour should disappear into a cohesive, soft dough.
- Enclose the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. This chill firms the fat so the dough becomes easier to handle.
- Set the oven to 400°F and allow it to preheat. The oven should reach the baking temperature before the cookies go in.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough to approximately ⅛-inch thickness and cut it into 2-inch squares. A consistent thickness helps the cookies bake evenly.
- Portion a little more than a ½ teaspoon of fruit pastry filling onto each square’s center and draw it into a diagonal strip. Keep the two corners that will fold together free of fruit.
- Bring the two clean, opposite corners over the filling, dampen their contact area with a little water, press the overlap firmly together, and arrange the cookies about an inch apart on a baking sheet. The overlapping layers should touch dough to dough, with no filling between them.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely, and dust with powdered sugar before eating. Look for set edges and lightly golden bottoms rather than deeply browned tops.
Notes
Ingredient tip: Choose full-fat block cream cheese rather than whipped, reduced-fat, or tub spreads, and rely on thick canned fruit pastry filling so the centers stay neatly in place.
Texture tip: Roll smaller portions of dough at a time while keeping the remainder wrapped and chilled; if the pastry begins clinging to the counter or rolling pin, return it to the refrigerator to firm up.
Sealing tip: Keep the folding corners completely clean of fruit, moisten the overlap with just a tiny drop of water, and press the dough layers firmly together.
Doneness: Begin checking the cookies at 12 minutes; the tops remain fairly pale when ready, so look underneath for lightly golden bottoms and set edges.
Storage: Cool the baked cookies completely on wire racks before packing them into an airtight container, and wait until right before serving to dust with powdered sugar so it does not melt.
Nutrition information is an estimate based on common ingredients and serving sizes. Values may vary depending on brands, portions, and substitutions.