Apricot Kolacky Cookie (Kiffles)

• servings: 36 cookies
• active time: 2 hrs 32 mins
• total time: 2 hrs 32 mins

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

2¼ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup unsalted butter softened

½ cup granulated sugar for rolling

For the Apricot Filling:

1 lb dried apricots sulfured for color

1 cup granulated sugar

Directions

To make the Apricot Filling:

Place dried apricots in a small saucepan and pour in just enough water to cover the apricots. Boil until the apricots are soft. Do not let all the water evaporate. Add a little bit more to keep the filling from burning.

Add the sugar and continue to cook until thick.

Either puree in a food processor or with an immersion blender in a bowl. If the filling is too runny, return it to the sauce pot to continue to cook.

You can make the filling ahead of time and freeze it until you are ready to use it. Just thaw at room temperature when you are ready to use.

For the Pastry Dough:

Whisk flour and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese and butter together with a stand mixer or a hand mixer until completely incorporated and creamy (3-5 minutes).

Reduce the speed of the mixer and slowly add in the flour. I used 5 additions and completely mixed in the flour each time. The dough will be soft but not sticky.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and flatten each to ¾” thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until hard, at least 2 hours.

Assembling the Kolaches:

Pre-heat the oven to 375F. Move the oven rack one setting higher than the center.

Take one of the disks of dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour both sides. Spread granulated sugar on your pastry board or work surface. Place the dough on top and roll out pastry to 1/16” to 1/8” thick. Most recipes say 1/8” but my Husband remembered them being thinner.

With a pastry wheel or sharp knife, trim the dough into a square and then cut the square into 16 smaller squares. My dough never rolled out into a perfect circle so I would just cut as many 1 1/2 “ squares a possible, saving the scraps for later.

Place a dollop of filling into the center of each square. I used ½ teaspoon to ¾ teaspoon for eac.

Gently grab two opposite corners and fold one over the other, gently pressing down to try and seal them together. Gently move it to a parchment covered baking sheet. Repeat with all remaining squares.

Sprinkle the middles of the kolaches with just a touch of granulated sugar.

Placing the kolaches no closer than 1” apart.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until the bottom edges are a golden and you can smell them. Let cool slightly on the pan on a wire rack and then move them gently to a wire rack to cool completely.

Repeat with all remaining dough. Refrigerate and re-roll your scraps. Amazing.

Notes

Presentation – Pressing the dough down slightly in the center will help keep them from popping open during baking. Make them larger will also help prevent popping open!

Flavor Tips – Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar before baking or dust with powdered sugar after baking and cooling.

Technique – Rolling the dough out on top of sugar adds more flavor to the unsweetened dough and allows the bottoms to caramelize in the oven. This is a tried and true Grandmother baking tip right here!

Helpful Tools – You can use a butter knife to cut the squares but I love the ease of a pie cutter. Use the fluted side for extra flare!

Variations – These nut roll cookies are also delightful with apricot filling or a traditional poppyseed filling. Pecans can also be substituted for the walnuts.

Filling Yield Note: You will have lots of filling left over. If you don’t want to freeze the remainder, you can probably halve the recipe above. You can also use prepared pastry, not pie, filling, but there are so many additives that the minimal extra effort is totally worth making homemade.

For a more traditional cookie, you can omit the granulated sugar and dust the final, cooled cookie with powdered sugar.