These Polish Kolaczki are such a fun and simple treat to make. They’re jam tarts, but with a little something extra. We’ll talk about that in a minute, but first, lay your eyes on these:



Kolaczki remind me of the jam tarts I’d make as a child when my Mum had some left over pastry. I’d squish the pastry in to all sorts of shapes, put far too much jam in and then watch the oven as my creation became over run by the treacly filling. With that in mind, I had to test one of these on it’s own first to get the amount of jam just right. It’s the optimist in me that always thinks they can handle more filling and I had to reel that in.

So, what gives these a little more too them? They have an added extra ingredient, the pastry for these is made with soured cream or cream cheese, which is fairly common in Polish pastries. The result is a sweet pastry that’s a little savoury in the background, like the frosting on a carrot cake. I like it a lot and they need locking away because I ate half of this bake in one day…

This is my first foray in to Eastern European cuisine. My experience of Polish food rests on these and the sausage I talked about in my May Favourites post. Not much at all, but I’ve been doing some research.

Do you know how the first wave of Polish migrants arrived in the UK? It really surprised me; they weren’t destined for England at all. You should go and read about it here.

This is the type of thing I love to know about. Infact, earlier in the week, Matt and I lay in bed discussing the British Empire and reading about our current outlaying territories. You might be reading this and thinking, “what?!”, but this is me we’re talking about. Obscure and geeky conversations are my domain and poor Matt just has to deal with that.

So yes, a polish pastry. I must add a disclaimer though to say that these are not a traditional shape but these pinwheels are so fun and eye catching, that I couldn’t resist putting my own spin on tradition… get it?

Despite what I’d read elsewhere, this pastry was a dream to work with. This is the perfect recipe to try out with kids who’ll love how simple it is to mix the pastry up. Once that is ready, all that’s left to do is splodge the jam in the middle, and make the 4 magic cut and tucks that form the pinwheels.

The key item here is the fruit preserves so if you can’t find homemade jam, buy the best quality you can. My Mum makes a few different jams but for this recipe I really fancied apricot so I picked up some Bonne Maman.

I really hope you enjoy how simple this recipe is and if you make it, I’d love to hear how you get on. Also, if you’re Polish and living in the UK, please point me in the direction of some of your favourite traditional recipes, I’d love to try out some more.



Print Polish Kolaczki Author: A Life of Geekery Serves: 16 Ingredients 115g Butter

115g Cream cheese

125g Plain flour (plus extra for rolling)

65g Icing sugar

8 tsp Jam, marmalade or curd for filling Method Cut the butter in to cubes and place in a large bowl, along with the cream cheese. Mix together with a wooden spoon until well combined. Sift in the flour and icing sugar, stirring it in to the mixture. Once it has started to come together as a dough, tip out on to a lightly floured surface and need until smooth. If the dough feels sticky, add a little more flour. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30mins. Preheat the oven to 170? (325?, gas mark 3 ) Roll out the pastry until around 3mm thick then cut in to 8cm squares. Place the squares on a lined baking sheet. Make a 2cm diagonal cut on each corner. Add around half a teaspoon of jam to the centre of the squares. Fold in one piece from each of the cut sections towards the centre to form the pinwheel. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden on the tips Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Notes I haven't tested this recipe with low fat cream cheese so if you try it, please let me know how you get on. I imagine you may need to add more flour. 3.3.3077

You might be surprised to see two sweet posts in a row and I am too! I promise a savoury recipe next. Something simple to whip up on weeknights.

This post was sponsored by Lebara.