Vegan Kolaczki (Polish Chrismas Cookies)
My grandma's Polish Kolaczki, made dairy-free! Flaky vegan cookies filled with a homemade almond apricot jam. Easy to make and perfect for the holidays.
Servings: 32 cookies
Calories: 105kcal
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.
Video
Notes
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.
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 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
Calories: 105kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 106mg | Potassium: 1mg | Sugar: 3g