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These vegan kolaczki are my grandma’s Polish Christmas cookies, made completely dairy-free. Light, flaky, and filled with a homemade almond apricot jam, they look fancy but come together easily; no special skills required. Perfect for a holiday dessert table, a cookie exchange, or gifting to family and friends.
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Kolaczki cookies have been a staple at holidays and family gatherings on my mom’s side since long before I was born. I have loved them since I was little. Traditional kolaczki usually call for cream cheese, sour cream, or eggs, but I finally created a dairy-free version, and I promise you no one will know the difference. They are just as light and flaky as my grandma’s! These vegan kolaczki might just become a new favorite in your house, too.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Completely dairy-free – just as light and flaky as the traditional version.
- Perfect for the holidays – a beautiful addition to any Christmas cookie tray or dessert table.
- Freezer-friendly – make the dough, the unbaked cookies, or the baked cookies ahead of time.
- A distinctive filling – most kolaczki use just apricot or just almond; this combined almond apricot jam is something special.
- Easier than it looks – the dough comes together quickly in a stand mixer (or by hand).
Ingredients you need
Ingredient notes and substitutions
In my vegan version of kolaczki, I use dairy-free yogurt to replace the sour cream and eggs my relatives use, and dairy-free butter in place of vegetable shortening. Most kolaczki recipes you’ll find online use a cream cheese dough; my family’s has always been a sour cream dough instead, which is why yogurt is the natural dairy-free swap here. I also added a touch of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract to the dough for added flavor and warmth.
- Flour ~ I use all-purpose flour to keep these cookies nice and light. I haven’t personally tried a gluten-free version, but multiple readers have with great success using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour. A couple of notes from their experience: use a proper 1:1 wheat-flour-replacement blend, not a single flour like almond or coconut flour, which won’t work here. The dough may be a little trickier to work with, and rolling it slightly thinner than usual seems to help.
- Sugar ~ Use granulated cane sugar for best results.
- Yogurt ~ Any plain or vanilla vegan yogurt should work. Unsweetened is my choice. If yours is sweetened, you can probably reduce the amount of sugar added.
- Butter ~ I like Earth Balance or Miyoko’s vegan butter sticks. Country Crock also makes a vegan stick butter that works great. I do not recommend using the spreadable butter that comes in a tub. One reader has also successfully substituted coconut oil for the butter when vegan butter wasn’t available where she lives, so that’s a solid backup option.
- Filling ~ My all-time favorite filling for these Polish cookies is almond, but apricot is the flavor you’ll find most often, and I love those as well. I decided to combine these two flavors for the most delightful jam I’ve ever had.
Use dried apricots for the perfect thick jam consistency. I find most store-bought jam to be too thin, and it “leaks” out of the cookies while baking. However, in a pinch, you can try using your favorite store-bought variety, just make sure it isn’t a very loose one.
In my vegan kolaczki filling, I used Nielsen-Massey Pure Almond Extract. Almond extract is one of the most popular flavors used in baking. It delivers a sweet, nutty flavor that complements vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch and more. It’s a match made in heaven with my homemade apricot jam!
How to make the recipe
Please scroll down to the recipe card for exact ingredient measurements and instructions.
The dough for this recipe comes together quickly and easily in the bowl of an electric mixer. I have also made this dough by hand before, so know that is an option if you don’t have a mixer. Just make sure your dairy-free butter is softened to room temperature for ease of mixing.
- Step 1: Beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the yogurt and vanilla and beat again until smooth.
- Step 2: Add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing after each addtion, until smooth.
- Step 3: Continue to beat the mixture until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a dough.
- Step 4: Divide the dough in half. Form each half into a smooth disc and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Step 5: Transfer the tightly wrapped kolaczki dough to the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Step 6: While the dough is chilling, make the homemade almond apricot jam.
- Step 7: Place one of the chilled discs of dough on a floured surface. Flour the dough well, also.
- Step 8: Roll out the dough into a rectangle or square as best you can to about ⅛ inch thick.
- Step 9: Trim the edges so you have a perfect rectangle or square.
- Step 10: Cut the dough into squares 2.5 in. x 2.5 in.
- Step 11: Add a dollop of the apricot jame to the center of each square.
- Step 12: Fold in two opposite corners and press down to seal. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake until lightly browned on the bottoms. Cool, then dust with powdered sugar.
Storage and freezing
Room temperature: Store these vegan kolaczki in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days.
Fridge: To keep them longer than 3 days, transfer them to the fridge.
Freezer: You can freeze the dough, the formed cookies before baking, or the baked cookies.
To freeze the dough, wrap it tightly in parchment or plastic wrap and then put in a freezer safe container or plastic zip-top bag. It should keep well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before proceeding with the recipe.
To freeze the baked or unbaked cookies, lay them out on a baking sheet in one layer and put the whole tray into the freezer. Once the cookies are frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe container or plastic bag with sheets of parchment paper in between each layer of cookies.
If unbaked, you can bake them from frozen. You may just need to add a few extra minutes of baking time.
Baked cookies can be thawed overnight in the fridge or on the counter until softened.
Pro tips and tricks
Chill the dough fully – at least 1 hour, up to a day. Firmer, well-chilled dough is much easier to roll out evenly and holds its shape better once cut.
Turn the mixer speed down when adding the flour. Add it gradually and only bring the speed back up once it’s mostly combined, or you’ll end up with flour all over the kitchen.
Use a thick jam, not a thin one. A loose filling will ooze and leak out of the cookies while baking. If your filling seems too thin, simmer it a bit longer to thicken before using.
Don’t overfill. ¾ to 1 teaspoon of filling per square is enough. More than that makes sealing harder and increases the chance of leaking.
If the corners won’t stay sealed, press down firmly where they meet, or dab a tiny bit of the jam between them to act as glue.
Roll to an even ⅛-inch thickness, and trim the edges into a clean rectangle rather than trying to roll a perfect shape freehand.
FAQs
Kolaczki are jam-filled cookies popular during the holidays, with origins in Poland, the Czech Republic, and other countries. My family’s recipe is made with flour, sour cream, vegetable shortening, eggs, sugar, baking powder, and salt. More traditional recipes usually call for cream cheese instead of sour cream, and many don’t contain eggs at all.
There are many spellings of these jam-filled cookies – kolaczki, kolacky, kolache, and more – and they’re all used interchangeably. As far as I know, kolaczki is the proper Polish spelling, but I’ve seen my 100% Polish relatives use “kolacky” as well.
For more Polish favorites, try my Polish Tomato Soup and Vegan Mushroom Soup.
This vegan kolaczki dough is so easy to work with, I don’t usually have any issues with the edges sticking together. However, if you are having trouble, try pressing down gently, but firmly where the two corners meet. You can also try adding a tiny bit of the jam between the two corners to help them stick.
I haven’t personally tried it, but multiple readers have with great success using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour blend. Don’t use a single gluten-free flour, like almond or coconut flour, on its own; that won’t work. A couple of readers found the gluten-free dough a little trickier to work with and recommend rolling it slightly thinner than usual.
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you tried it, please use the star rating system in the recipe card and leave a comment with your feedback. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For even more easy family recipes, be sure to check out my cookbook, The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook!
Vegan Kolaczki (Polish Chrismas Cookies)
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
For the Vegan Kolaczki Dough
- 1 cup (240 g) room temperature dairy-free butter
- ¼ cup (50 g) organic cane sugar
- ½ cup (125 g) plain dairy-free yogurt
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Almond Apricot Filling
- 1 cup (190 g) dried apricots
- ⅓ cup (65 g) organic cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup (180 ml) water plus more as needed, to thin
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Nielsen-Massey Pure Almond Extract
For Serving
- Dusting of organic powdered sugar if desired
Instructions
For the Kolaczki Dough
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the dairy-free butter and sugar until smooth. Add the dairy-free yogurt and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add a little at a time to the mixture with the wet ingredients, beating well between each addition. (Pro tip: be sure to turn the speed of the mixture way down as you are adding the flour mixture and only increase the speed once it's well combined. Otherwise, you will have flour all over your kitchen.)
- Continue to beat the mixture until it pulls away from the sides of the mixer and dough forms.
- Divide the dough in half. Form each half into a smooth ball and then flatten into a disc about 4.5 x 4.5 inches and 1 inch tall. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour until firm enough to roll out, or up to a day.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll out one of the discs of dough on a floured surface into a rectangle about ⅛ inch thick. Sprinkle additional flour on the dough and/or surface and rolling pin if it starts to stick.
- Cut the rectangle of dough into 2 ½-inch squares.
- Add ¾ -1 teaspoon of Almond Apricot Filling (recipe follows) to the center of each square. Fold 2 opposite corners of each square over to meet in the middle and gently press down to seal. If you're having a hard time getting the corners to stick, add a teeny amount of filling between the two corners to act as a glue. Continue with the remaining disc of dough.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned on the bottoms. Cool on a wire cooling rack until completely cool. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
For the Almond Apricot Filling
- Place the apricots, sugar, lemon juice and water in a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Take off the heat and add the almond extract.
- Using an immersion blender in the pot purée until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add additional water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached. The mixture should be fairly thick, but spreadable. If the mixture is too thin, it will ooze out of the cookies while baking.
- Store in the fridge until ready to use.
Notes
Nutrition facts are calculated for the full recipe. However, you will likely have some jam filling leftover, so the nutritional value of each cookie is just an estimate.
Nutrition
Nutrition values are calculated using online calculators and are estimates only. Please verify using your own data.
Leticia
I made this using coconut oil instead of vegan butter, because where I live it’s extremely hard to find vegan butter. I also made raspberry marmalade instead of apricot. It turned out really well and delicious! It’s not too sweet. It’s something my boyfriend says he’d have with a cup of coffee, and it reminded him of the things he grew up eating. He’s Polish and vegan, so he was very eager to try these out. Thank you for the recipe!
Jenn Sebestyen
That’s wonderful! I’m so happy you both enjoyed it. And good to know that coconut oil will work in place of the vegan butter. Thank you for your feedback and commment.
Steph
I am excited to make these! Sorry if this is a weird question but I noticed that you use v. yogurt instead of cream cheese. Have you tried using vegan cream cheese in the recipe b4?
Jenn Sebestyen
I haven’t tried that. My grandma’s kolaczki recipe calls for sour cream, which is why I swapped in yogurt. I think cream cheese would be too thick.
Alex
Can I freeze this dough?
Jenn Sebestyen
Yes! Wrap it tightly in parchment or plastic wrap and then put in a freezer safe container or plastic zip-top bag. It should keep well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before proceeding. Enjoy!
Carol
I made these for my vegan daughter for Christmas. They are so delicious. Light and just sweet enough. Easy to make and the apricot filling is the best. She is going to love these. Thanks for the excellent recipe…it’s a keeper.
Jenn Sebestyen
I’m so glad you love them, Carol! I hope your daughter loves them just as much. Thank you so much for you lovely comment!
Natalie
These are so delicious!! I failed a bit at getting the corners to stay together during baking, but the flavor is wonderful and I will definitely be trying to get the technique down!
Jenn Sebestyen
I’m so glad you love them! The dough usually sticks easily for us, press down until a little indentation is made. But you can also put a little dab of jam between the corners that you bring together if it’s being finicky.
Littlepicklevegan
Decided to make these cookies on a whim and they were absolutely DELICIOUS! Not just for the holidays but these will be my go to for a nice treat. I love apricot and the flavor is wonderful. It’s not too sweet so be careful you may want to eat more than you originally planned. 😉
I will be trying more recipes from Veggie Inspired!
Jenn Sebestyen
I’m so happy you love them! Thank you for the amazing feedback. I hope you find more recipes here to love as well. Happy New Year!
Tony
Vegan? . . . . I thought that means eating nothing with a face. Butter and yogurt are in this recipe. /????/
Jenn Sebestyen
Yes, and as you’ll see the recipe calls for DAIRY-FREE butter and DAIRY-FREE yogurt. This recipe is 100% vegan. But, thanks for leaving a poor star rating on a recipe you didn’t even try.
Beth
I made these with Namaste gluten-free flour for a family member with many dietary restrictions. They were fantastic, and it was such a pleasure to make a favorite treat for her. Next time, I’ll probably roll them out a bit thinner. , but otherwise wouldn’t do anything differently. Recipe was easy to follow, and dough was not as fiddly as some pastries.
Jenn Sebestyen
So glad you loved them! Thank you for your feedback.
Chad Vanko
Turned out great! Even tried using sugar substitute with truvia for my dad. Will for sure make this again.
Jenn Sebestyen
Wonderful! Thanks for your feedback, Chad. Is truvia a 1:1 sub for cane sugar?
Chad Vanko
No. There is a conversion chart for it online and on the bag. Honestly I couldn’t tell the difference and neither could my partner.
Jenn Sebestyen
Thanks for the tip!
Colleenie
We made this this afternoon and they are delicious! I was hoping to duplicate my mother-in-law’s recipe, minus the 5 egg yolks. I used one block of Miyoko’s vegan butter and Forager brand vegan sour cream. Filled them with Solo apricot filling, because that’s what MIL used. Thank you for the recipe!
Jenn Sebestyen
That’s wonderful! So happy you love them. Thank you for your feedback!
Karen A Snell
Can you leave out the sugar? I never add it to the non-vegan recipe for kolacky.
Jenn Sebestyen
I think you absolutely could! The filling should give you plenty of flavor and sweetness. Let me know how they turn out!
Cynthia
I have a lovely jar of Simply Fruit apricot fruit spread. I’m thinking I could swap fit the apricot filling steps in your recipe. What do you think?
Cynthia
For not fit (I should have proofed!)
Jenn Sebestyen
Hi, Cynthia. In my recipe testing, I found most jams/jellies to be a bit too thin and they leaked out when baking. However, I know many people do use store bought jam and it works out fine. Just make sure it’s not a very loose one. Or if it is, you can try cooking it down a bit to thicken. Let me know how it turns out!
Enya
These look pretty great! Can I substitute the flour for gluten-free flour like Bob’s Red Mill or almond flour? Also, can I substitute the vegan butter with anything?
Jenn Sebestyen
Try a gluten free flour blend meant to replace wheat flour 1:1…Bob’s Red Mill would be a great choice. Almond flour won’t work. You can try softened coconut oil in place of the butter, but I haven’t personally tried it so I can’t say for sure if they will turn out the same.
Mandy
I am so sorry, Jenn, for the incredibly delayed review! These were incredible!!! And a massive hit with my whole family! Willow and I had so much fun making these and she loves saying the word Kolaczi 🙂 I had every intention to make these written as is, but last minute I decided that I wanted to eat them too, so I made them using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour! The dough was a little tricky to work with, but absolutely worth it! They were so buttery with a perfect texture and reminded me of the cookies I ate as a kid. My dad and aunt were so surprised and it was such a great way to honor and remember my grandmother. I now have a new appreciation for the work she put into making them all of those years! I have a feeling this recipe will become part of our Christmas tradition. Thank you for sharing this, Jenn! Happy New Year!
Jenn Sebestyen
Oh, Mandy, this makes me so happy! Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1:1 is my go-to for converting to gf, too. Glad to hear that worked out.So happy you all loved them!
Mandy
Jenn! Like you, Kolaczki cookies were a staple at family gatherings on my dad’s side of the family!! Is it weird that this post of yours got me a little emotional??? Goodness, it’s been ages since I’ve had one of these and not only have I missed eating them, but this makes me miss MY Polish grandmother. These look exactly like I remember…I can almost taste them! I can’t wait to make these for Christmas and surprise my Dad ❤️ And those extracts sound wonderful – I’ll definitely check them out. Hope you’ve been doing well and that you’re having a wonderful holiday season!
Jenn Sebestyen
Hi, Mandy! Not weird at all…I think it’s sweet. I was so impressed with the results of these…and of how easy they are to make. I hope your Dad loves them! Happy Holidays!
Stephanie
I’m so excited to try these! I am dairy free currently for my 5 month old. I’m struggling not being able to have our classic Polish Christmas cookies this year. It was our tradition we made with my mom every year. We are going to make them tomorrow and attempt some vegan rogaliki tomorrow too!!
Jenn Sebestyen
Oh, I can’t wait to hear how they turn out! What is rogaliki? I’ve never heard of that one. Merry Christmas!