Strange sounding, right? Don't worry, they are delicious. A wonderful addition to any holiday get together or change up to your normal cookie routine but warning... they are a pain in the ass. Why bother then? Because the combination of creamy cream cheese, rich butter, and sweet fruit filling (Raspberry in my case) can't be beat! Especially when they are covered in powdered sugar. :)
Kiffles were my childhood favorite. They stem from Eastern Europe during a time when sugar was a luxury but things like butter, cream, and fruit were just what you had laying around. Every year I would beg for them and every year mom would moan and groan, "do I have to?". But I was spoiled so I got them. LoL. I never understood her hesitation. It was just another cookie. I... was soooo wrong.
While delicious they are a labor of love. And blood. And sweat. And possibly a tear. The extremely high fat content makes the dough so hard to work with. You are supposed to chill and roll. Chill and cut. Chill and fill. Fold and chill and then bake. And with seven other recipes to make, this girl just didn't have it in her. So, I decided to experiment and fudge the process a bit. My method? Roll by hand, press my thumb in the middle and fill the hole. Fantastic I thought.
But even that was a pain. The holes were hard to make. With my finger, with the back of a spoon, etc. But I pressed on. I really hate rolling cookies. I pushed through it, slapped em in the oven, and eleven minutes later... SUCCESS! Sort of...
While they were delicious, they weren't the same. They were dense and decadent rather than light but rich. And if I were to take another go at it, I would man up and roll, fill, and fold. But if you don't want to do all that work, rest assured, they will come out delicious my way. Just make the dough as suggested, chill for a couple hours, scoop and roll into balls, make a depression in the center, and fill. Bake per the recipe and instructions and that's that.
Kiffles/ Kolacky
NOTES:
The recipe has excellent notes! I only have three notes.
1.While the recipe is rich, it's not sweet exactly. I believe this is because I made them thumbprints and therefor thicker. Less fruit to dough ratio so normally it wouldn't be an issue. If following the recipe word for word, have no fears. If you make them thumbprints add one half cup of granulated sugar.
2. These cookies don't really brown. They are done, no matter what you think, pull them out when suggested.
3. Jungle Jim's sells Solo brand filling in many flavors
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