These Gluten Free Kolachi are a Polish cookie made healthier and allergy friendly. A savory dough surrounds a sweet walnut filling for a gluten free and dairy free version of a classic Polish treat!
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.
Gluten Free Kolachi Ingredients
- Vegan cream cheese: stick to vegan cream cheese for a diary free cookie. This is the base of Kolachi cookie dough.
- Vegan butter: to get that buttery pastry dough.
- 1:1 Gluten Free Flour: be sure to use a 1:1 all purpose gluten free flour with xanthan gum for best results.
- Coconut sugar: used in both the dough and filling to keep these cookies refined sugar free.
- Vanilla extract
- Egg whites: egg whites are used to hold the filling together.
- Walnuts: use plain, chopped walnuts that aren't salted or roasted.
- 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.
Forming the cookies
The hardest part of this recipe is forming the cookies. Take about 1-2 tablespoon 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.
More holiday cookies
Healthy Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
Gluten Free Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Paleo Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Gluten and Dairy Free Butter Pecan Cookies
Gluten Free Kolachi Cookies
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 oz vegan cream cheese, softened I use the Miyoko's brand
- 4 oz vegan unsalted butter, softened I use the Miyoko's brand
- 1 cup Plus 2 tablespoon 1:1 Gluten Free Flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
Filling
- 2 egg whites
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar you can increase this to ½ cup sugar if desired
- 2 cups ground walnuts measure 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 tablespoon 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 ⅛-1/4 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.
- Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Lynn Barnard says
They were easy to cut & roll out & they taste good. I wet each corner before folding and joining corners. My only criticism is that they aren’t very flaky but this could be due to the use of vegan cream cheese.