In Polish families, Christmas is a time for dear friends to pay each other a visit. That means a glass of Christmas cheer, coffee and sweets, if not a full-blown meal. That's a lot of entertaining, so weeks before Christmas, my family would get out the cookie tins and start baking traditional Polish sweets. It was such a fun time. We played Christmas carols and sang while we worked -- a real Santa's Workshop. These days, with family scattered thither and yon, we usually do our baking solo, but still call, often while we're baking, to keep tabs on each other. You'll find Polish Christmas Dessert Recipes here.
1. Pecan Crescent Cookies Recipe - Polish Ciastka Kurcha
© 2008 Barbara Rolek licensed to About.com, Inc.
The traditional way to make ciastka kurcha is to envelop a pecan half in the buttery dough, but my family took a shortcut and chopped the pecans finely and incorporated them in the dough. Today's generation has taken it a step further and instead of shaping the dough into crescents, we make them in rounds and call them "Polish Full Moons."
2. Polish Kolaczki Recipe
© 2008 Barbara Rolek licensed to About.com, Inc.
Sometimes called Polish Foldovers, kolaczki can be square, diamond shaped or round. The dough can be made with cream cheese, sour cream, ice cream or yeast. They exist in most Eastern European cuisines and are spelled variously as kolaci, kolache, kolacky, kolachky, and I'm sure a few more. Fillings run the gamut of apricot to raspberry to prune to cheese. Some truly untraditional flavors like pineapple are sneaking into the mix. There's always room for creativity. This recipe is for a flaky cream cheese dough.
3. Gingerbread Cookies Recipe - Polish Pierniczki
Flickr by Imago
Gingerbread cookies - pierniczki - have a long history in Poland dating to the Middle Ages when the crusaders brought spices back to Europe. Polish honey-spice cookies are not shaped like little men. Instead, they are usually heart-shaped and dipped in chocolate. Some have a fruit filling. Liberties are taken these days and, along with the traditional kind, you will find brightly colored pierniczki throughout Poland.
4. Almond Crescent Cookies Recipe - Polish Rogaliki
Flickr by Su-lin
Polish rogaliki mean "little horns" because of their shape. There are many versions -- some recipes require rolling the dough and cutting it into triangles, adding a dollop of filling and rolling, like Jewish rugelach. This recipe is for a hand-formed cookie similar to Polish Christmas Crescents, described in 1., above, except these are made with almonds. They melt in your mouth.
5. Cat's Eye Sandwich Cookies Recipe - Polish Kocie Oczka
Flickr by naoko123
This recipe for Polish kocie oczka or cat's eyes starts with a butter cookie dough made with sour cream. A jam filling of choice is sandwiched between two cookies, one with a hole in the center. I started to make large holes and use apricot preserves because they looked like my cat's yellow eyes. I used to say his eyes were as big as lightbulbs and that's why I named him Edison. Smaller holes are more traditional so you get just a peek of the filling.
6. Butter Pretzel Cookies Recipe - Kruche Ciasto Polskie
© 2008 Barbara Rolek licensed to About.com, Inc.
Kruche Ciasto Polskie literally means "Polish crumbly dough" and refers to any pastry dough made with sieved hard-cooked eggs. This recipe can be made up into any shape -- thumbprints, scooped cookies or pretzel shapes as I have done here. Brush them with egg white and sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles for a festive look.
7. Crispy Wafer Cookies Recipe - Polish Wafle
© 2008 Barbara Rolek licensed to About.com, Inc.
These crispy and light wafle cookies are made on a special iron, like a Norwegian goro iron. They can be eaten as is or taste even better sandwiched with honey or a thin layer of jam and dusted with confectioners' sugar if desired. Sublime! Definitely worth the effort.
8. Economical Butter Crunch Cookies Recipe
Flickr by jocasta77
This recipe for Butter Crunch Cookies is actually my way of getting around the high price of pecans in making Polish Christmas Crescents, described in 1., above. Instead of costly nuts, I use crushed generic-brand corn flakes. An added plus is that this is a scoopable dough that yields 5 dozen cookies.
9. Heavenly Stars Cookies Recipe - Gwiazdki z Nieba
Flickr by AllyBawx2
These star-shaped rolled sugar cookies are an important part of Polish Christmas celebrations, where the Star of Bethlehem figures prominently in many aspects of the tradition. These are great plain or dipped in chocolate. Check out Polish Christmas Dessert Recipes here.
10. Rolled Sugar Cookies - Amoniaczki
Flickr by sarahsflickr
The literal translation of this cookie from Polish is Ammonia Cookies and refers to the baker's ammonia or ammonium carbonate used in the dough, a leavener that predates baking powder and baking soda, common in many Old World recipes. But no worries. Baking powder or soda can be substituted. Read more about baker's ammonia
