Kolacky Cookies

I'm in a baking spree for the past couple of days. I made Chatti Pathiri, the Indian version of Turkish Baklava, yesterday for Indian Cooking Challenge and today I made these melt in your mouth European Kolacky Cookies for this week's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge'.
I bought some cherry pie filling a while back when I was making this Black Forest Cake. I had some leftover in the fridge that needed to be used up. I saved the wrapper from the container (Solo brand) because it had 2 recipes using the pie filling. These Kolacky cookies caught my eye because it had very few ingredients and seemed easy enough to make.

The filling for these cookies can be just about anything. Any flavored pie filling or jam or fruit preserves would work. Even chocolate-hazelnut spread would be great. I made a batch with cherry pie filling and the other with Nutella. I was worried that the filling would melt and ooze out after baking, but they held up pretty good and there was no melting whatsoever.

These cookies just melt in your mouth. They have softer texture and so very different from the chewy or crunchy American cookies. I ate quite a few cookies in the name of taste testing. I don't think they can be stored for a long time because of their texture, so make them when you have company to share (the calories).

Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter - 1 cup (2 sticks), softened
Cream cheese - 8oz. block, softened
Powdered Sugar - ¼cup + more for dusting
Milk - 1tbsp
Egg yolk - 1 (I used 1½tsp of egg replacer whisked with 1½tbsp of water)
All purpose flour - 1½cups
Baking powder - ½tsp
Pie Filling (any flavor) or Jam (any flavor) or Nutella - 1cup

Method:

• Cream butter and cream cheese either using a stand mixer or a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
• Add powdered sugar and milk and beat until incorporated. Add the egg yolk (or the egg replacer solution) and beat until mixed well.
• Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat on low speed until a stick dough forms. You might want to use a spatula or your hands at this point to get everything into a dough.
• Form a rough disk and wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. 
• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into ¼" thick rectangle. Using a 2" (I only had 2¼") cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. This dough is super easy to work with, very buttery, soft and pliable.
• Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet 1" apart.
• Using the back of a spoon or your thumb make an impression in the middle of the cookie. Place ½tsp of filling in the impression.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges look lightly browned and the cookies are firm to touch. Remove onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving. Enjoy!!

Here's a little pictorial for the Cookie making:

Cookie cutting

Cookies with dimples :-)

Filled Cookies

Freshly baked Cookies

Sending these over to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge'.