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Roczki Cookies (Kolacky)

5 from 15 votes

Made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling

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Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) are made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling. www.savingdessert.com

 

Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) are made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling.  Typical of older recipes, these cookies are not terribly sweet but have a wonderful, unique and simple flavor.

This amazing recipe came to me from 93 year old Annie Roy of Chicago, Illinois.  Annie is the first daughter of Slovak immigrants and a lifelong resident of the Chicago area.  Annie’s daughter, Rita, is my husband’s sister-in-law and our favorite adventure travel-mate!

While growing up, Annie worked in the family grocery store and started baking and cooking for the family as a teenager.  Annie learned to make Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) while helping her mother and has been making these cookies every Christmas since.  Annie got married, started a family and continued baking and sharing Roczki cookies with family and friends (although war rationing curtailed sugar and butter availability.)  These cookies are the favorite Christmas treat among the entire extended family.

Knowing Annie is a blessing

Annie is an amazing woman.  She still drives herself to work two days a week, where she answers the phone and performs light office duties for a non-profit organization dedicated to helping handicapped adults gain independence in group homes.  Annie is a constant source of inspiration for everyone she meets.  If you visit Annie at home, you will most likely leave with a lovely gift of home baked goods, rich chocolate or something equally delicious.  I’ve only met Annie once many years ago but remember her well.  Annie is the family matriarch and still attends the same church that her father and grandfather helped build.  Thank you for sharing your recipe with me Annie!

 

Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) are made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling. www.savingdessert.com

This has been a very fun project for me.  Who can resist making a legendary recipe like these Roczki Cookies (Kolacky)!?

Of all the cookies pictured here, the Roczki Cookies, also known as Kolacky, are the most unique and fascinating I’ve ever attempted.  It’s not that they are difficult to make, but they are time consuming.  It’s a reminder that back in the old days people had more time to dedicate to baking and other large projects.  Cell phones, social media, and the constant barrage of all things electronic has robbed us of a few of life’s simpler joys.

 

Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) are made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling. www.savingdessert.com

Many Central European countries have their own recipe variations for Roczki Cookies (Kolacky).

You may have come across a few with cream cheese in the dough and the cookies cut into little bow ties with apricot filling.  This nut filled version is a lesser known treat, but is the hands-down favorite of the entire Roy family.  One of the most fascinating steps in this recipe is rolling out the dough on a granulated sugar dusted work surface. There is no added sugar in the dough and very little in the filling.  I was intrigued by this process and loved the end result.

 

 

Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) are made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling. www.savingdessert.com

Nailing down the original recipe for Roczki Cookies (Kolacky)

In recent years, one of Annie’s family members sat down with her and typed up the recipe so it can be preserved, shared and handed down for years to come.  As written, I had lots, and lots of questions so Annie and I had several conversations by phone, where we discussed the method, ingredients, and history of the recipe.  I’ve made modifications to the recipe based on my experience so these cookies may be slightly different than Annie’s.  Please refer to the notes on the recipe card for my changes.

Tips you need to know before you start baking:

One last note before you being baking.  I highly recommend you cut the recipe in half.  Even if you have to throw away half an egg, and half an egg yolk, it will be worth it (save them for breakfast!)  According to my calculations, this recipe makes over 200 (2-inch) cookies.  The dough is rolled out into nine 10×10-inch squares and each square is cut into 2×2-inch pieces.

Each cookie gets a teaspoon of filling, then is rolled into a cigar shape.  Most people don’t have the time to spend an entire day in the kitchen baking – but I did and don’t regret it for one minute.  These cookies (or the unbaked dough) freezes amazingly well.  I FEDEX’d a box of cookies to Annie and her family to enjoy during the Thanksgiving holiday and they made it to Chicago with no issues.  Rita and her mom said they arrived in great shape and they were all very pleased that my cookies turned out well.  Everyone said they were delicious and that I successfully passed the test.  I’m now an honorary Slovak woman!  That feels pretty amazing 🙂

 

Annie Roy - Thanksgiving 2016 -Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) are made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling. www.savingdessert.com

Annie Roy – Thanksgiving 2016 – holding a few of the Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) I shared from her recipe.  Thanks again Annie!  It was a joy to bake with you 🙂

 

Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) are made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling. www.savingdessert.com

Cookies pictured above:  Top left – Tuile Cigar Cookies (Pirouettes) dipped in white chocolate and crushed peppermint, and milk chocolate with toasted nuts.  Top right:  Italian Fig Cookies (Cucidati)   Bottom Left:  Annie’s Roczki Cookies (Kolacky) and Vanilla Pretzel Cookies.

 

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A stack of Roczki Cookies, also known as Kolacky.

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Roczki (Kolacky)

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 10 hours 45 minutes
Yield: 225 cookies
Course: Dessert
Author: Tricia
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5 from 15 votes
Made with a tender, yeasted dough rolled up in a cigar shape with a simple, lemony, ground nut filling.

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 2 packages active dry yeast, (two ¼ ounce packages or 4 ½ teaspoons total)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 6 ½ to 7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 pound unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 egg yolks

For the nut filling:

  • 1 pound pecans, ground fine
  • 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 egg whites

For rolling out the dough:

  • 2 +/- additional cups of granulated sugar to roll out the dough
  • 3 egg whites lightly beaten, mixed with 1 teaspoon water for brushing on top of the cookies before baking.

Instructions

  • Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment or wax paper. Make sure the paper hangs over the sides of the pan.

To make the dough:

  • Dissolve the yeast in ½ cup warm water.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, salt, and chunks of butter. Mix until crumbly.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolks, cream and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add yeast, and the cream and eggs. Fit the dough hook on the stand mixer and blend until the dough comes together and is smooth.
  • Press the dough into the prepared pan and cut it into 9 equal sized pieces. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 8 hours or overnight.

To make the filling:

  • In a medium mixing bowl, combine the ground nuts, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest. In a separate clean bowl with clean beaters, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Alternate adding the sugar and egg whites to the nut mixture until all is incorporated. Add more sugar or lemon juice if needed to taste. Do not over mix. Set aside.

To make the cookies:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  • Fill a small, flat bowl with ½ cup granulated sugar. This will be used for rolling the cookies.
  • Remove one square of the chilled dough, leaving the rest in the refrigerator. Dust a clean work surface with granulated sugar. Roll out the dough to a 10x10 inch square. Using a rolling pastry cutter, cut the dough evenly into 2x2 inch squares.
  • Spread about 1 teaspoon of the nut filling onto each square leaving one end clean (about ⅓ of the dough square). Roll into a cigar shape. Using your finger or a small brush, spread a little of the egg white wash mixture down the clean side of the dough, press to seal. Brush the outside of the cookie with additional egg white and then lightly roll in granulated sugar. Place seem side down on the prepared baking sheet. Continue rolling until you fill the pan.
  • Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar just before serving. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe Notes

  • I recommend cutting the recipe in half unless you need 225 cookies.
Changes from the original recipe I received:
1. Annie's original recipe calls for one package of yeast instead of the two that was typed on my copy. After trying my cookies, Annie preferred the puffier dough so much, they're going to make Roczki with two packages of yeast next time. Yeah! A happy accident.
2. Vanilla has been added to the dough and filling not originally on my recipe copy.
3. The original recipe called for half butter and half margarine. I tested with all butter.
4. I tested making apricot bowties but due to the added yeast in my dough, they would not stay together and puffed up bigger than they should. I only tested one batch with the apricot filling (Solo brand) and didn't take photos.
5. Annie brushes melted butter on top of her cookies before baking. I tested this method and also tried brushed on egg whites. In addition I tested baking the cookies without either. My preference is a lightly brushed on egg white wash. The cookie bakes up with a nice thin crust and soft puffy middle.
6. The original recipe I received called for the (9) dough pieces to be rolled into 10x14-inch rectangles, then cut into 2x2-inch squares. I found the dough to be too thin, and at those calculations, the recipe will make 315 cookies. I rolled the dough into 10x10-inch squares and ended up with 225 cookies.
7. The prepared unbaked dough may be frozen or stored in the refrigerator for up to a week before baking. Or you may bake a few batches at a time as needed or when time allows.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition

Calories: 50kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 7mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 72IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.2mg

Here are a few more cookie recipes you might enjoy:

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If you’re in the market for a very affordable, lightweight, perfectly wonderful microplane zester – this may be the one you need!  I LOVE mine 🙂  Thanks Deiss!

       

The small print: If you decide to purchase something at Amazon after following my affiliate link, I receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, which I use to pay for web hosting and services for this blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information on a recipe.  I love hearing from you all – happy baking!

Tricia

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65 Comments

  2. Krista

    Thank you for this. It is very similar to my families recipe. The one my mom always made had butter and Crisco. I was searching to see if it would work with all butter. Since you used all butter and they turned out I will try it. Our recipe only used powdered sugar for rolling. I will try adding some granulated because sounds like a good addition. My favorite filling is prune filling, sounds funny, but they are so good!

    Reply

    • Jan Herbst

      Thank you for the beautiful story about the Slovak cookies! My father was Slovak and his parents built a Slovak Lutheran church inMichigan . Your recipe brought back so many memories of Church ladies baking and sharing their delicious goods. At my age of 79, I still love to bake my Christmas cookies and breads to share with neighbors and others. I am eager to try your amended recipe ! My husband of 56 years is always eager to taste your cookie recipes that I enjoy baking! Continue your most worthwhile work!!

      Reply

      • Tricia Buice

        Thank you Jan! I can’t wait to hear what you think of these classic cookies. Annie recently passed away but her family will never forget her love for baking and especially her love of sharing. Have a wonderful holiday season!

    • Steven

      Great recipe. Does anyone have that crisco recipe?? That was my nana’s recipe and was lost after my sis died. Please 🤓🤓🤓🤓

      Reply

      • Michelle Satcher

        I believe I have the Crisco recipe! It’s been in my family for over half a century! My recipe uses both (1/4 lb) butter AND (1 cup) Crisco, five egg yolks, a packet of yeast, 5 cups of flour and a half pint of cream. Does that sound about right?

    • Doug

      We’re Serbian and my recipe — super similar to yours — is from Monessen, PA in the 1930s.

      My cold dough recipe calls for a cake of live yeast (harder and harder to find — Mom bought a 2 oz cake and used it all LOL: def more than 1 package dried as 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast granules = 2/3 ounce fresh yeast), plus my mom used mix of sour cream/cream cheese instead of cream…

      Krista: Try all granulated sugar heavy on the last outside roll as it does an amazing thing — with the butter that melts when baking, a thin, glittery candy crust forms that makes these amazing and resilient to mail and keep in a cold place for weeks (my mother baked in early December and hid in our unheated garage).

      We also make homemade thick apricot filling (solo too runny; dried apricots cooked in OJ and sugar forever, then blended) + Solo poppyseed to which I added dried zante currents soaked in bourbon;)

      Thanks Tricia and Krista for this amazing fun forum!!!

      Reply

  4. Jan

    5 stars
    Thanks for this. This recipe has been in my husbands family for several generations. We have not made them for quite a while, and I had forgotten the process that his grandmother used. Our recipe is a bit different, walnuts instead of pecans, touch of sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg, along with the beaten eggs in the filling. There is a small amount of sugar in the dough, and it is rolled out in half 10X sugar, half flour mix. Filling is spread from corner to corner, opposite corners pulled up and sealed with a smear of milk, like a spear, then baked, cooled, and dusted with 10X sugar. My husband’s favorite!

    Reply

  6. Lauren

    Thanks so much for the recipe, I appreciate the attention to detail. I halved the recipe, rolled the dough sections out into 5×10 squares and they came out perfectly. I ran out of sugar on the last two batches and tried rolling em in Stevia- nobody do this, it melts 🙁 I just rolled the sticky roczkis in powder sugar though and they were saved lol. Thanks again for the recipe, they are delicious.

    Reply

    • JoAnn white

      My mom always rolled them in a mix of granulated and powdered sugar, so that is how I do it, too, with my daughters and granddaughters. It gives a nice finish to the cookie-almost like a glaze with the granulated sugar for a little crispiness.

      Reply

      • Tricia Buice

        Hi JoAnn! I like the idea of the powdered sugar too. These have a nice crispy exterior as the dough is rolled out onto a bed of granulated sugar. Great baking project and especially wonderful when shared with family. Passing down the love of baking is a true gift. Enjoy the holidays and happy baking!

  7. Vickie

    Hello, what a sweet story! What a teasure Annie is! It’s funny, I too am Slovak and this is the first recipe that I’ve read that rolls the cookies in granulated sugar as I do. My dad’s side is Slovak and my mom always said that she learned from them that the “true way” to make them was to roll them in sugar. I also have to say that my mom always talked about a really sweet lady named Ann, on my dad’s side, that lived in Chicago….. Hmmmm! Thank you for this recipe!

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Vickie! This recipe is such a treat and packed with family memories. Maybe there is a connection here – who knows! Annie is doing well, and still baking away. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

    • L B Magruder

      5 stars
      These are the real deal! When my beloved aunt died, I thought I would never taste these wonderful cookies again. Thank you for a precious gift. I am so grateful to you both for sharing this recipe and technique.

      Reply

  8. Kim W.

    This is exactly what I was looking for! I have hand-written remnants of my grandmother’s “pin rolls” recipe, but unfortunately never made them with her. My recipe uses sour cream in the dough. I am rolling them out today and am glad I found some additional details. What is in your egg wash before baking? Just egg white?

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Kim – the egg wash is just egg whites and a little water. It is noted in the recipe so I hope that helps! Good luck and have a wonderful holiday season. Thanks for trying Annie’s recipe!

      Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Jen. I’ve actually thought a lot about this question and here’s what I’ve been thinking. If you have a scale, you can weigh the egg/egg yolk and remove enough to cut the amount in half, you can whisk the egg and yolk together then measure out the amount in tablespoons, or just eyeball it and remove half from a small bowl. i don’t think you have to be super precise, just in the ballpark. Hope that helps. I know it’s not scientific but should be fine. Good luck and hope you enjoy this recipe!

      Reply

  10. Susan

    Congratulations on making kolacky cookies, Tricia! I love the shape and the filling and dough-rolling process sounds so intriguing and delicious. I know Annie must be very proud of you. What an amazing lady!

    Reply

  11. Monica

    Annie sounds like an amazing woman! And what a great recipe…I love learning about these now unusual recipes. And I know just what you mean about these having a unique and simple flavor. Recipes like these really are treasures and it’s wonderful you are keeping them alive and spreading the word to us like this. There’s a lot of love on that plate of cookies.

    Reply

  12. Pam

    Great story and recipe, Tricia! The cookies look delicious! I learned to make Kolachky’s years ago from my Swedish MIL. This year, I was planning on using an old recipe from the Chicago Tribune for them, with an apricot filling, but just might be trying this one instead. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Hi Pam – I loved this recipe but the ones with the apricot filling did not stay together due to the amount of yeast in the dough. As noted in the recipe, it was a typo in the copy I received and used 2 packages of yeast instead of the one she normally used. So for the bowties, the dough is too puffy and no matter what you do, they won’t stay together. Just keep that in mind if you make them – perhaps only use 1 pkg of yeast 🙂 Thank you so much for commenting! Have a great weekend.

      Reply

  14. Dom

    i’m enjoying these cookie posts way too much. What a lovely story and what a lovely recipe. This is something to treasure and now of course you’ve shared it with us. Thank you x

    Reply

  15. Galit

    Hi! Love the recipe and the story behind it.
    Can you please specify exact total weight of active dry yeast? Many thanks and happy baking! Galit

    Reply

  16. Mary

    I have read the recipe a few times and I can’t see when you add the yeast. I assume that the yeast would be added at the same time as the eggs etc, but would be pleased if you would confirm. Lovely recipe and can’t wait to start baking.

    Reply

    • Tricia Buice

      Thanks Sue – I love the traditional cookies best. They are not as rich and sugary as some you find these days. That doesn’t mean I won’t bake something with peppermint candy on top – stay tuned!

      Reply