Bow Tie Cookies (Kolaczki)! Made up of a cream cheese-based dough, these tender bow ties are filled with chocolate hazelnut spread and baked to perfection. A beautiful treat for cookie exchanges and holiday gifting!
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If you're looking for a beautiful, delicious and versatile cookie for everything from Christmas cookie trays to Cookie Exchange parties to gifting, I've got just the recipe for you: Bow Tie Cookies!
Also known as Polish Kolaczki cookies or Czech Kolacky (and very similar to Hungarian Kiffles as well, from what I can tell), these gorgeous little sweet bites feature a cream cheese dough that can be filled with a variety of spreads, jams and other fillings.
Their versatility makes them an "all-in-one" cookie that can be altered to suit your taste and wow the crowd with different variations.
Add these beautiful Bow Tie Cookies to your holiday baking list this year!
Ingredients
- Cream cheese
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour*
- Sea salt
- Nutella (or see other options in variations below)
- Roasted hazelnuts
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Begin by preheating the oven to 375°F. Using a stand mixer, blend together softened cream cheese and butter until smooth. Incorporate sugar and vanilla, mixing thoroughly.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Gradually add this mixture to the cream cheese and butter blend until a dough forms, pulling away from the bowl's sides.
Start with 2 cups of flour, gradually adding more—about ¼ to ½ cup—until the dough loses excessive stickiness. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, gently knead the dough into a ball.
Divide it in half and shape each half into a square-ish form. Wrap both squares in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, preferably for several hours or overnight.
Once the dough is chilled and firm, take one square and roll it out on a floured surface to about ¼ inch thickness, forming a rectangle or square shape.
Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, create 2-inch-wide strips horizontally and vertically to yield 2x2 inch dough squares. Re-roll any remaining scraps and repeat the process.
Fill Cookies
Place the dough squares on a baking pan, arranging them to form diamond shapes, with corners facing each other. Fill a zip-top plastic bag or piping bag with chocolate hazelnut spread, then cut a small hole at the tip.
Pipe a straight line down the center of each dough diamond, estimating about a teaspoon of spread for each cookie. Sprinkle chopped hazelnuts over the spread, gently pressing them to adhere.
Form Bow Ties
Dampen your fingertips with water and lightly moisten one side of the cookie dough. Fold the outer edges of the diamond toward the center, ensuring the moistened side seals the other side. Repeat this process to create bow tie-shaped cookies.
Bake for approximately 12 minutes until the edges are slightly golden. The cookies will be soft when removed from the oven but will slightly firm up as they cool.
Transfer the cookies onto a cooling rack. Once cooled, dust them with powdered sugar before serving.
Recipe FAQ's
Yes, you can! After dividing the dough into squares and wrapping them in plastic wrap, you can freeze them for up to a month. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator overnight before rolling and baking for fresh cookies.
Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. If you'd like to extend their freshness, you can freeze the baked cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to two months. Just ensure they're properly thawed before serving.
Variations & Substitutions
Try these bow tie cookie variations!
- Fruit Preserves: Traditional kolaczki often feature fruit preserves such as apricot, raspberry, strawberry, or cherry.
- Poppy Seed Filling: A classic Eastern European option involves a sweet poppy seed filling called "makova napln", which can be made by simmering poppy seeds with sugar, honey, and sometimes milk or butter.
- Nut Fillings: Ground nuts like walnuts, almonds, or pecans mixed with sugar, honey, or spices like cinnamon or vanilla create a rich, nutty filling for kolaczki.
- Cream Cheese: A creamy and tangy cream cheese filling, sometimes sweetened with sugar or combined with a hint of vanilla or citrus zest, is a popular choice for these cookies.
- Chocolate: Chocolate ganache or melted chocolate is a rich alternative to my hazelnut spread version.
- Prune Filling: Prune or prune butter filling, often sweetened and spiced, provides a unique sweet flavor that complements the pastry dough.
- Apple Butter: A sweet and spiced apple butter filling makes for a delicious seasonal flavor.
- Lemon Curd: Tangy and citrusy lemon curd can be used as a filling, offering a bright and refreshing contrast to the cookie's buttery pastry.
Diet-Specific Substitutions
- Gluten-Free: I have not tried making these gluten-free, but using your favorite cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix should work in this recipe.
Bow Tie Cookies (Kolaczki)
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 8 ounces butter
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup Nutella or desired filling
- ½ cup roasted hazelnuts chopped
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla and mix to incorporate fully.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Slowly add the flour to the butter mixture until it forms a dough that begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. {*I usually add just 2 cups of flour and then sprinkle in an extra ¼ to ½ cup while the mixer goes until the dough is no longer super sticky.} Try not to over mix.
- Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and, with floured hands, gently knead it together to form a ball -- divide it in half. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap. Pat dough into 2 square-ish shapes and wrap well. Refrigerate until the dough is firm, several hours or overnight.**
- When the dough is firm, place one square onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a rectangle or square, about ¼ inch thick. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut as many 2 inch-wide strips across as you are able to, then repeat vertically to end up with 2x2 inch squares of dough. If you have scraps left over, re-roll the scraps and repeat the process.
- Place the dough squares on a baking pan -- the corners should be facing each other so that you have a tray full of "diamond" shapes. Preheat the oven to 375°F degrees.
- Fill a zip top plastic bag or small piping bag with chocolate hazelnut spread, then snip the tip. Pipe a straight line down the center of each diamond from tip to tip -- I estimate I used about a teaspoon of spread in each cookie. Sprinkle each cookie with chopped hazelnuts, pressing lightly to adhere to the spread.
- Wet your fingertips with a little bit of water and lightly swab one side of the cookie dough to moisten -- this will make it slightly sticky so that it adheres to the other side and stays closed. Carefully fold the outer edges of the diamond in toward the center {like it's hugging itself}, making sure to fold the sticky side over the non-sticky side so that it helps to seal the cookie. Repeat until all cookies are sealed into bow ties.
- Bake for about 12 minutes until they're just slightly golden at the edges. They'll be a little soft when you take them out of the oven, but they'll firm up slightly. Remove from baking pan and place on a cooling rack.
- Once cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
- The yield for this recipe depends on the size you cut your squares. Mine were about 2x2 inch squares and I got about 3 dozen cookies out of one batch.
- This dough is best after a rest and some chilling, but I will admit that I've used it without much of a rest and they turn out just fine. Chilling the dough does make it easier to roll out as it is less sticky.
-
- Fruit Preserves: Traditional kolaczki often feature fruit preserves such as apricot, raspberry, strawberry, or cherry.
-
- Poppy Seed Filling: A classic Eastern European option involves a sweet poppy seed filling called "makova napln", which can be made by simmering poppy seeds with sugar, honey, and sometimes milk or butter.
-
- Nut Fillings: Ground nuts like walnuts, almonds, or pecans mixed with sugar, honey, or spices like cinnamon or vanilla create a rich, nutty filling for kolaczki.
-
- Cream Cheese: A creamy and tangy cream cheese filling, sometimes sweetened with sugar or combined with a hint of vanilla or citrus zest, is a popular choice for these cookies.
-
- Chocolate: Chocolate ganache or melted chocolate is a rich alternative to my hazelnut spread version.
-
- Prune Filling: Prune or prune butter filling, often sweetened and spiced, provides a unique sweet flavor that complements the pastry dough.
-
- Apple Butter: A sweet and spiced apple butter filling makes for a delicious seasonal flavor.
-
- Lemon Curd: Tangy and citrusy lemon curd can be used as a filling, offering a bright and refreshing contrast to the cookie's buttery pastry.
- Gluten-Free: I have not tried making these gluten-free, but using your favorite cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix should work in this recipe.
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