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Strawberry Cream Cheese Kolacky are indulgent pastries, perfect for your dessert table. These delightful cookies, filled with a rich blend of cheesecake and strawberry jam, are ideal for various occasions such as holidays, baby showers, wedding showers, and birthdays, adding a touch of sweetness to each celebration.
Soft, flaky, and delicious pastries filled with a sweet cream cheese mixture and strawberry jam. Also known as Kolacky, these pastries are made with a rich, buttery dough that is infused with cream cheese, giving them a tangy and creamy flavor that pairs perfectly with the sweet and fruity filling.
Ingredients For Kolacky
- 2 packages (16-ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (16 tablespoons or 226 grams)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar plus more for dusting
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- strawberry jam
How To Make Strawberry Cream Cheese Kolacky
- Make the dough: In your mixer’s bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add in the flour and salt and continue to mix until combined.
- Lightly dust your work area with powdered sugar. Transfer the dough to the work area and shape it into a ball. Divide it into 4 rounds; flatten each round and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the creamy filling: In the meantime, prepare the filling by combining the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a mixer’s bowl. Beat until creamy and smooth.
- Dust the work area with flour. Remove the dough from the fridge and let it rest for 5 minutes. Roll out each ball of dough to a 1/4-inch thickness and cut it into 3×3 squares.
- Fill the center of each square with cream cheese mixture and strawberry jam. For a prettier presentation, using a pastry bag, you can pipe the fillings, one over the other.
- Overlap opposite corners of the dough to the center and over the filling. Pinch the seams together. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Bake the cookies for 10 to 11 minutes or until the edges are browned.
- Cool completely and serve.
Recipe Tips And Variations
- Sensitive Dough: I’m always a little hesitant about sharing these from-back-home recipes with you because some of them require a little bit of kitchen skill. Just a little. For instance, this dough. It’s amazing, but it’s also a diva. If you don’t chill it, it will fall apart. Also!?! Using too much filling will make the cookies soggy.
- Freeze the Dough: Keep in mind that you can make the dough hours ahead of time or freeze it! Then all that’s left to do is thaw it out, roll the dough, cut it into small squares, and arrange the filling in the center of the squares. And bake, of course.
- Sweet Filling: Also, you don’t have to use my strawberry cheesecake filling. Popular fillings for kolache are peach jam, apricot, raspberry, and strawberry or cherry preserves.
- Storing: Do not leave these on the kitchen counter. One, because they will disappear in seconds, and two, because, again, you don’t want to deal with sog-fest. Store them in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
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Strawberry Cream Cheese Pastries
Soft, flaky, and delicious cream cheese dough filled with a sweet cream cheese and strawberry jam filling.
Ingredients
For the Pastries
- 1 package (8-ounces) cream cheese,, softened
- 2 sticks unsalted butter,, softened (16 tablespoons or 226 grams)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- powdered sugar for dusting
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Filling
- 1 package (8-ounces) cream cheese,, softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar,, if you prefer it sweeter, add more powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- strawberry jam
Instructions
- In your mixer's bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, light, and fluffy.
- Add the flour and salt and continue to mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Lightly dust your work area with powdered sugar.
- Transfer the dough to the work area and shape it into a ball.
- Divide it into 4 rounds; flatten each round and cover each round of dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the filling by combining the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in your mixer's bowl. Beat until creamy and smooth. Set it aside.
- Dust your work area with flour.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Roll out each ball of dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Then, cut it into 3×3 squares.
- Fill the center of each square with 1/2 teaspoon cream cheese mixture and 1/2 teaspoon strawberry jam. For a prettier presentation, using a pastry bag, you can pipe the fillings, one next to the other or one over the other.
- Overlap opposite corners of the dough to the center and over the filling. Pinch the seams together. Refrigerate the cookie for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F.
- Remove the cookies from the fridge and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are browned.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely.
- Serve.
Notes
- Cream Cheese: This recipe works best with full-fat cream cheese. Make sure it is softened before you start to work with it.
- Butter: Use two sticks of softened unsalted butter. That is 16 tablespoons or 226 grams of butter.
- Jam Filling: You can use whatever jam or preserves you have on hand. In fact, for a more authentic kolacky, you don’t even have to make the cream cheese filling – just use the jam.
- Do not skip the refrigeration time before rolling out the dough AND before baking the pastries.
- Store the pastries in airtight containers and keep them refrigerated. You can also freeze the cookies for up to 3 months. I suggest freezing them filled but not baked. When you need them, you can thaw them on the counter and then bake them as needed.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 36mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 452IU | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
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Thank you
Hi, Darlene! I have never used cake flour to make these pastries so I am not completely sure if it would make a big difference. But to be on the safe side, see if you can use all-purpose flour, instead.
Can I use cake flour for this
Can I use cake flour for this
This looks a lot like a family recipe for kolache. I’m going to make yours today since mine calls for even more butter & today I have more cream cheese than butter. I also have blueberry filling since it’s my son’s fave.
Hi Cyndi! We also call them “kolachi”! ๐ Let me know how they worked out for you! Happy Holidays!!
Reminds me of the kiffels my Czech mom used to make only we used apricot jam and we made our dough in the evening and refrigerated over nite. Your recipe looks a little easier so I’ll be trying it soon. Can’t wait.
I’ve had kiffels before! They are amazing!! Let me know how you like these pastries. ๐
Looks like there is a dot in the middle. Is that from sealing with a toothpick or something to keep it shut?
Hi!
That’s from the toothpick that I used to keep the dough sealed. Normally I would just smooth it out, but I left it there because it adds a bit of character to the picture… I think? ๐
I thought so when I saw it. I agree it adds character! I have another recipe that folds like this and so many open. I will make these but use that trick for those as well.
Is it fine to make the dough the night before and leave it in the fridge that long?
Made this last weekend this recipe was great. Make sure you chill the dough before rolling since it was hard to roll with the first batch when we did not initially refrigerate the dough. Great recipe!
So delicious! I used red raspberry jam instead and it was amazing!