These Gluten Free Kolachi are a Polish cookie made healthier and allergy friendly. A savory dough surrounds a sweet walnut filling for a gluten and dairy free version of a classic Polish treat!
gluten free kolachi
Kolachi cookies (Kolachy) are a Polish cookie made of a flour, butter, and cream cheese dough that are filled with jam or a walnut filling. They are basically a light pastry dough wrapped around a sweet filling and dusted with powdered sugar. My mom and I remade these cookies into a gluten free and dairy free version!
My mother’s side of the family is Polish, so I grew up with poppyseed and nut roll during the holidays. These rolls are a bit more intensive and time consuming to make, but Kolachi have similar flavors with half the work. This gluten free cookie version is simple to make. The hardest part is assembling which really isn’t difficult at all once you get your technique down.
Coconut sugar: used in both the dough and filling to keep this cookies refined sugar free
Egg whites: used to hold the filling together
Vanilla extract
Walnuts: for the filling!
Powdered sugar: a must for dusting these cookies
Recipe Notes
Traditional Kolachi are made with butter and cream cheese. It’s quite easy to make these cookies dairy free, you’ll just vegan butter and cream cheese. I like to use the Miyoko’s brand as it is gluten free and palm oil free.
These gluten free kolachi cookies are mostly refined sugar free, using coconut sugar instead of refined white sugar. They are dusted in confectioners sugar (this is a must, you can’t skip it!), but you could always make your own with coconut or maple sugar if desired.
gluten free polish cookies
Forming the cookies
The hardest part of this recipe is forming the cookies. Take about 1-2 Tbsp of the walnut filling and roll it into a little log that you’ll place diagonally along the cut pastry. Gently fold opposite corners together over the top of the filling and seal the dough. You can wet your finger to seal the dough on top. It takes a cookie or two to get your personal technique down, but once you do, things will move quicker.
Kolachi are a traditional Polish cookie. This version is made completely gluten and dairy free, filled with a sweet walnut filling. These are a favorite holiday cookie in my family and I hope you love them too!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Polish
Keyword christmas cookies, dairy free, gluten free, polish, traditional
1/3cupcoconut sugaryou can increase this to 1/2 cup sugar if desired
2cupsground walnutsmeasure the walnuts after grinding them
Powdered sugar
Instructions
Cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium until light and fluffy.
Add the coconut sugar and half the flour at a time and beat on low to combine.
Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
While dough is in the fridge, make the filling.
Beat the egg whites and vanilla on medium high until fluffy and frothy. Add the sugar 1 Tbsp at a time and beat until combined after each addition.
Mix in your walnuts until well combined.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Let dough sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. You'll know it's ready because you can work it without it immediately cracking. If it starts cracking, wait a few more minutes.
Lightly dust a work surface with a mix of powdered sugar and flour. Roll out your dough to about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.
Trim dough then cut into 2inch squares. Roll scraps of dough back into a ball and place in the fridge.
Place about 1-2 Tbsp. of walnut filling diagonally along one square. Overlap the opposite corners of the dough over the filling, sealing tightly. Place cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough on a second baking sheet.
Bake cookies for 18-22 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes), rotating the cookie sheets halfway through, until the bottoms are golden, the tops are lightly golden, and cookies are firm.
Let cool for 10 minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
These Spinach & Feta Chicken Meatballs are a delicious and flavorful meal and can be made completely dairy free. Packed with protein, fiber, and micro-nutrients, this will be your new favorite dinner!
spinach and feta chicken meatballs
These chicken meatballs are easy to make and filled with flavor. They are also great for food allergies or restrictions because they are naturally gluten free and you can use plant based feta if needed (like I did). I also keep them low FODMAP by using fennel and garlic infused olive oil. It’s one of my favorite ways to add flavor without stomach discomfort. This dish packs a flavor and nutrient punch!
spinach and feta chicken meatballs
Spinach and Feta Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients:
Ground chicken
Spinach
Cilantro
Feta vegan or regular
Fennel or onion
Salt
Oregano
Garlic olive oil
To make these Greek-inspired meatballs, all you have to do is mix all the ingredients together and bake! It’s that simple. I love serving these over rice and with some sort of Greek salad. I often make a cucumber, bell pepper, and olive salad drizzled with olive oil and oregano. It pairs perfectly with these spinach meatballs.
These Spinach & Feta Meatballs are filled with nutrients and flavor! They are super easy to whip up and perfect for family dinner or meal prep.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword allergy friendly, Easy, Simple
Servings 4servings
Author Victoria Faling
Ingredients
1lbsground chicken
2handfuls of spinach
1/4cupcilantro
1/2cupfetavegan or regular (if using a block, be sure to crumble it)
1/2cupdiced fennel or onion
1/2tspsalt
1tsporegano
1Tbspgarlic olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F.
Dice the spinach and cilantro, then add everything to a bowl and mix well. This is done best with your hands to make sure all the ingredients come together evenly.
Form into 16 meatballs and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 25-28 minutes, until slightly golden and cooked through.
If you have a corn allergy then you need this Corn Free Sweet Potato Cornbread in your life! It’s also gluten free and dairy free, so it’s the perfect allergy friendly option for Thanksgiving.
gluten free and corn free sweet potato cornbread
Did you know you can make corn-free cornbread? It’s true! As someone who can’t eat corn, I sure miss it. Corn is delicious, but this corn-free cornbread tastes eerily similar to the Jiffy corn muffins I grew up on. And now I’ve eaten way too many slices.
This cornbread uses tigernut flour to get the consistency and taste we’re going for, but you can also use almond flour. I added mashed sweet potato to amp up the nutrient content and play into the flavor. You can’t even taste the sweet potato, so if you’ve got picky eaters in your house, this is a great recipe for sneaking veggies in.
1/4 cup melted butter (butter, vegan or otherwise, works best in this recipe, but you can get away with using a neutral oil, as well)
2 eggs
3 Tbsp of honey
1/2 cup milk of choice
What’s Tigernut Flour?
Tigernut is not a nut, it’s a tuber. I use tigernut flour in a lot of my recipes because it’s a great alternative to almond flour for those with allergies (like me!). Tigernut also have a slight sweetness to them, which allows me to use less added sweetener in my recipes. It’s a win-win! If you can’t access tigernut flour though, you can use almond flour instead.
How to serve gluten free cornbread
What’s cornbread without a thick slather of (dairy free) butter and generous drizzle of honey? This cornbread tastes best warm, so if you make this cornbread ahead of time, I suggest warming it in the oven at 300F for about 20 minutes before serving. You can warm it up wrapped in tinfoil or in a glass dish.
This corn-free cornbread has a similar taste and texture to regular cornbread, but without the corn! It’s also completely gluten and dairy free and made nutrient dense with the addition of sweet potato.
1/4cupmelted butter(butter, vegan or otherwise, works best in this recipe, but you can get away with using a neutral oil, as well)
2eggs
3Tbspof honey
1/2cupmilk of choice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F.
Sift the tigernut flour and whisk in the gluten free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add the sweet potato, eggs, butter, honey, and milk in a bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat all the ingredients together on medium speed until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low until combined. Let batter sit while you prepare the baking dish.
Grease a 9×9 inch glass baking dish.
Pour the batter into the baking dish. Bake for 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before slicing.
Serve warmed with a slather of butter or coconut oil and a drizzle of honey!
These Gluten Free Maple Walnut Cookies have just the right amount of softness, sweetness, and crunch. They’re perfect for fall and also completely dairy free and refined sugar free.
gluten free and dairy free allergy friendly maple walnut cookies
These maple walnut cookies are the perfect fall/winter cookie. It took me about 7 tries to nail this recipe, but along the way I learned about what substitutions would work. The ideal cookie recipe is listed below, but I provide tons of subs to make these cookies work for you depending on the ingredients you have available and dietary preferences.
gluten free and dairy free healthier maple walnut cookies
This recipe calls for a combination of gluten free and tigernut flour. This is the best combo for this recipes as the tigernut adds some sweetness and complements the maple nicely. If you don’t have tigernut flour or can’t access it, you can use almond flour or more gluten free flour. Using another 1/2 cup of gluten free flour will result in more puffy cookies that do not spread as much. They will also be much lighter in color (you can see this in the photos).
Fat
This recipe calls for 1/2 cup of softened coconut oil. You can substitute this for butter of your choice, but again, the cookies may come out a bit puffier. If you’d like to reduce the fat content, you can use 1/4 cup of oil/butter and 1/4 cup of applesauce. This results in fluffier, softer cookies that do not spread as much, but are still delicious.
Sugar
This recipe calls for maple sugar to get that maple flavor. Unfortunately, maple sugar can be hard to find and is often expensive. You can use coconut sugar as a substitute or 1/4 cup of coconut sugar and 1/4 cup of maple syrup to get some of that maple flavor in the cookies. The combo of sugar and maple syrup also may result in a lighter, fluffier cookie. Again, still delicious! If you do want to use maple sugar, I usually buy it on Amazon.
gluten free and dairy free lower sugar maple walnut cookies
More Walnut Recipes
Love walnuts? Then you need to try these other great recipes that incorporate walnuts!
These gluten free cookies are lower in sugar, but still maintain all the delicious flavor and texture! Don’t forget the dairy free icing to top them off.
1/2cupcoconut oilsoftened (see substitutions above)
1eggroom temperature
1egg yolkroom temperature
1tspvanilla extract
1/2cupchopped walnuts
Icing
1/2cuppowdered sugar
2tspmelted coconut oil or butter
2tspmaple syruproom temperature (zap in microwave at 5 second intervals if needed)
Milk of choice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F.
Whisk together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Beat together the sugar and coconut oil until light and fluffy (30-60 seconds).
Beat in the egg until combined. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low to just combine.
Fold in the walnuts.
Let batter sit while you line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Scoop tablespoon sized drops of dough onto one baking sheet, leaving 1.5-2 inches between each cookie.
Bake one cookie sheet on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes until golden and just firm around the edges.
Let cool on the baking sheet for 5-8 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. While one sheet of cookies bakes, prepare the next sheet. Repeat until all cookies are baked.
Let cookies completely cool before icing.
To make the icing, mix together the sugar, oil, and maple syrup until you get a thick icing consistency. Add a tiny splash of milk if needed.
Remember the viral baked feta pasta? Well, we are making it fall themed with this creamy feta and butternut squash version! This is an easy dish to make and perfect for a family dinner or meal with friends.
This delicious and cozy meal is perfect as the weather cools off. I keep this dish completely dairy free by using a plant-based feta option, but you can use regular feta, as well. You can keep the dish completely gluten free or even paleo based on the pasta you decide to use.
This super simple meal basically just involves roasting everything, blending it together, and tossing with your pasta of choice! I love adding in chicken-apple sausage, as well as some other veggies. If you’re not a huge veg person, this is a great way to get your veggies in and perfect for hiding veggies in dishes for picky eaters.
This is a fall take on the viral feta pasta. A creamy, cheesy butternut squash sauce brings all the fall flavors into this savory dish.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword Easy, fall, Fall flavors, Simple
Servings 4
Author Victoria
Ingredients
4cupschopped butternut squashabout a 1.5 lbs butternut
1cupcherry/baby tomatoes
2tbspfresh thyme, de-stemmed and chopped
1tspsage powder
1tspsalt
2-4tbspolive oilI like to use 1 tbs. of garlic infused olive oil (If you are not using garlic infused, add a few cloves of garlic to the dish)
1blockfeta4 servings of crumbled feta (I use a vegan version)
1 1/2cupsmilk of choice
4servingspasta of choice*cooked
Optional: protein, veggiesI like to use chicken-apple sausage, extra veggies like sautéed kale, peas, or bell pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F
Add chopped butternut squash, tomatoes, herbs, and salt to a baking dish. Toss with olive oil to coat. If you are not using a garlic infused olive oil, add a few garlic cloves to the dish.
Add your block of feta in the middle of the dish or sprinkle feta on top.
Bake for about 40 minutes, until squash is fork tender.
Let the squash cool down for 10 minutes before adding to a high speed blender or food processor with the milk. Blend until smooth.
Taste and add more salt or herbs as desired.
Toss your cooked pasta, protein, and veggies (if using) with the butternut squash sauce. I like to sprinkle some nutritional yeast on top. Enjoy!
Cinnamon rolls are delicious all year round, but pumpkin cinnamon rolls scream fall. These delicious rolls are completely gluten free and dairy free with a vegan option. They are also healthier than traditional cinnamon rolls, so they are a great addition to breakfast.
If you haven’t heard, there’s been a viral 2-ingredient dough going around the internet over the last year. This is where you combine Greek yogurt and self-rising flour in a 1:1 ratio to create an easy dough that can be used for pizza, bagels, rolls, and more. We’re amping up that dough in this recipe to create this simple pumpkin cinnamon rolls.
What is Self-Rising Flour?
Self-rising flour contains baking powder. If you don’t have gluten-free self rising flour at home, it’s easy to make! All you have to do is combine 2 cups of 1:1 gluten-free flour (it must have a binder like xanthum gum in it!) with 3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix everything well and you are ready to go!
What Yogurt Should I Use?
Although the original 2-ingredient dough calls for Greek yogurt, I use a vegan yogurt in this recipe to keep it dairy free. This means we have to use a bit more flour. I have tried this recipe with both Oatly oat yogurt and Forager Project cashew-coconut yogurt. I find the cinnamon rolls come out best with the Oatly yogurt, but you should be able to sub in a different brand if needed.
What’s the Best Ratio of Flour to Yogurt?
You may use up to 2 cups of self-rising flour in this recipe depending on the yogurt you use. If you decide to use Greek yogurt, you’ll start with just 1 cup of flour. If using a vegan yogurt, you’ll start with 1 1/4 cups of flour and increase as needed. Don’t worry, I walk you through the entire process to get the right dough consistency in the recipe below.
How Do I Make This Recipe Vegan?
I added an egg to the dough because I think that gives it a better rise, especially with gluten-free flour, but you can sub the egg for another 1/4 cup of vegan yogurt to keep the entire recipe plant-based!
These healthy Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls are gluten-free & dairy-free and can be made completely vegan too! We're amping up the viral 2-ingredient dough for these easy, no-yeast cinnamon rolls.
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Easy, No Yeast
Servings 10rolls
Author Victoria
Ingredients
Dough
1/2cupGreek yogurt or vegan yogurt
1egg*use another 1/4 cup of vegan yogurt for vegan version
1/4cuppumpkin puree
1tspvanilla extract
2tbspcoconut sugar
2cupsself-rising 1:1 gluten free flour*see note for homemade version
Filling
3/4cuppumpkin puree
2tbspcoconut sugar
1 tbspcinnamon
Icing
1/4cuppowdered sugar
1tbspyogurt of choice
1/2 tspvanilla extract
1tspmelted coconut oil or butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine yogurt, egg (or more yogurt), pumpkin, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. If using Greek yogurt, add 1 cup of the flour to start. If using vegan yogurt, add 1 1/4 cup of flour.
Mix gently with a rubber spatula to combine. We want to create a dough that holds together and isn’t very sticky to the touch. If the dough is really wet and sticky still, add another 1/4 cup of flour then add flour 1 Tbs. at a time after that as necessary until you reach the right consistency.
Once the dough begins to come together, use your hands to gently need the flour into the dough and create a dough ball that isn’t too wet and can be held without it completely sticking to your hands.
Lay out a large piece of parchment paper (at least 15-20 inches long so you have enough space to work on) and flour your work surface.
Place the dough on the floured surface and lightly flour the top of the dough, as well. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into about a 10″x12-15″ rectangle that is about 1/4inch thick.
Combine all your filling ingredients in a bowl and mix will.
Spread the filling in a thin layer over the dough.
Starting at one end, use the parchment paper to help you roll the dough medium-tight.
I find using a knife run under cold water works best for cutting the rolls. You want to cut the dough in 1 inch increments. Place the rolls 1/2inch apart in a baking dish.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and firm to the touch.
Let cinnamon rolls cool slightly before making the icing.
To make the icing, combine the sugar, yogurt, and vanilla. Mix well. Add in the melted oil or butter and stir quickly. Drizzle the icing over the rolls.
Store in the fridge for up to 5 days and warm up slightly in the oven or microwave before eating.
Notes
Self-rising flour contains baking powder. If you don’t have gluten-free self rising flour at home, it’s easy to make! All you have to do is combine 2 cups of 1:1 gluten-free flour (it must have a binder like xanthum gum in it!) with 3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix everything well and you are ready to go!
Hi! I'm Victoria. I was diagnosed with Lyme in 2012 and have been on a healing journey ever since. I love helping others on their road to healing through allergy friendly recipes, exercise, and overall well-being.
