Kolazcky Cookies - Guest Post!

Today's guest post is by my favorite baking buddy, Christina of All's Fare Food blog!  Christina and I are Cupcake Camp buddies every year, and love to bake together while our hubbies watch football.  Whenever the four of us go out to dinner, we all go home with sore cheeks because we have so much fun and laugh so hard.  Christina is a great friend and an excellent baker, so here we go!

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Hello to all the readers of Boston Sweetie’s blog! I’m so happy to have been invited here to share a cookie recipe during this holiday season.

Growing up in the huge Midwest melting pot that is Milwaukee, I had the great privilege to be around all different types of ethnic foods. Each summer on the shores of Lake Michigan, you could flock to one of the weekly ethnic festivals like Irish Fest, Festa Italiana, German Fest or Polish Fest. At these weekend-long events, you could experience snacks and meals with an authentic touch from the old country.

One of my favorite recipes that could be found in many of Milwaukee’s southside bakeries is the Kolaczky Cookie. Pronounced coh-latch-key, this Polish cookie is flaky and filled with a fruity jam.  Several other European countries have their own version of the kolaczky with names like kolache, kolacky or kolace and can be filled with everything from sweet fruit to savory cheeses.

The kolaczky is actually quite easy to make. First, select your favorite filling – I opted for an orange marmalade that I found on the shelves at Home Goods one day. Then, mix together the dough, which is super simple to make. Finally, put the cookies together and bake. In about two hours, you can have more than two dozen of these wonderful cookie treats.

Orange Apricot Marmalade

I hope you enjoy!

What You’ll Need

• 4 oz (1/2 brick) cream cheese, softened
• 6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 jar filling of choice (apricot, raspberry, strawberry preserves or jam etc.)
• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Putting It Together

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Add in the flour a 1/4-cup at a time. Mix well. Cover the dough with plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

On your work surface, use a mixture of granulated and powdered sugar to prepare the dough. Do not use flour here.

Roll out your dough to about 1/4-inch thick using a rolling pin. Add more of the sugar mixture if it gets too sticky.

Using a circle or square cookie cutter, cut into 2-inch shapes and place on cookie sheet.

Add about 1/4-teaspoon of filling to the center of the dough. Overlap opposite corners of the dough to cover the filling.

 


Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Then, remove to a cooling rack.

When cooled, dust with powdered sugar and serve. Store in airtight container.

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

I love seasonal baking.  I'm talking apple/cinnamon/pumpkin in the fall, peppermint and chocolate in the winter, citrus and fruit in the summer...but spring always has me caught.  My mind goes floral but I haven't gone much further than lavender (with my Almond Lemon lavender cupcakes).  March is the only springtime month that comes easy.  March means St. Patrick's Day, which means bringing out one of my favorites: Irish Carbomb Cupcakes!

My good friend Christina of All's Fare Food Blog shared my recipe with her readers last year, and I am excited to post it here today with new pictures.  These treats bring the flavors of one of my favorite "shots" (can you call it a shot?) together into a cupcake with Guinness Chocolate Cake, Jameson chocolate ganache filling and Bailey's Irish Cream frosting.

I got an early start this year and baked my first batch of these cupcakes in February to say thank you to my new coworkers.  I've recently started a new job, and I'm sure you all know how the first couple of months go.  There is a lot to learn and a lot of my new coworkers have been awesome helping me along the way so I thought they deserved some boozey-cupcakes.  They disappeared fast, good move by me!

Here is the recipe that I adapted from Smitten Kitchen, this makes about 2 dozen cupcakes - enjoy!

Need:

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 1 c. Guinness (pour first to let it settle)
• 1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter - room temperature
• 3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 c. sour cream

Jameson Chocolate Ganache:

• 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
• 2/3 c. heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. butter, room temperature
• 1 nip of Jameson Irish Whiskey

Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting (makes enough for 12...make two batches to have enough for all 24 cupcakes):

• 3 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 nip of Bailey's Irish Cream

Do: 

1) Make the cupcakes

• Preheat oven to 350F and prep cupcake pan with liners.  
• Bring 1 cup Guinness and 1 cup butter to a simmer in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
• Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth.  Cool slightly.
• Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and 3/4 tsp. salt in a large bowl to blend.
• Using an electric or stand mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl until light and creamy. 
• Pour Guinness/chocolate mixture into the egg/sour cream bowl and beat to combine. 
• Add flour mixture and beat for about 1 minute on low.
• Using a rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.  Be gentle, but make sure everything is well-mixed. 
• Divide batter among cupcake liners, and bake for about 17 minutes or until a cake tester (toothpick in my case!) comes out clean.  
• Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack. 

2.  Make ganache (you can start this while the cupcakes are cooling)

• Pour chocolate chips into a heat-proof bowl.  
• Heat the cream in a separate pot until it simmers, then pour over the chocolate.
• Let the cream sit on the chocolate for 1 minute, and then stir until smooth.  If the chocolate has not melted enough to stir it smooth, you can pop it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and stir again.
• Add the butter and whiskey, and stir until combined. 
• Let the ganache cool until it thickens up a bit.  I put mine in the fridge for about 40 minutes and stir once every 10 minutes per Smitten's suggestion.

3.  Fill the cupcakes

• Use a cupcake corer ($5 at Williams-Sonoma), apple corer, wide piping tip, 1-inch cookie cutter, knife, whatever you have on hand to cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes.
• Save your centers to make a tastie! (A tastie is what I call a small bite of your cake that you can dab frosting on to make sure it tastes good without eating a whole cupcake)
• Give the ganache one last good stir, fill a piping bag or ziplock baggie and cut off a corner, and squeeze the ganache into each cupcake.  It's okay if it is a little over-filled, people will love it and you can cover it with frosting later.

4.  Make the frosting

• Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer for several minutes.  You want it really light and fluffy, I like to use the whisk attachment for this.
• Once the butter is whipped, slowly add your powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
• When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, add in the Bailey's and an extra splash of Jameson if you have extra for good measure, and whip until combined.
• You can add more sugar or more liquid (milk, or booze, either one!) to thicken or thin out the frosting.

5.  Decorate!  Now you're ready to frost your cupcakes any way you like.  Enjoy!

Here's one of my tasties; a cupcake core, a dab of ganache and a dot of frosting- delish!

Here are my cupcakes all filled, pre-frosting

French Apple Pie

Happy Monday, sweets!  I hope everyone had a nice weekend!  It was beautiful in Massachusetts this weekend, perfect for enjoying fall treats.  My husband and I spent the weekend at my parents' house, helping to replace their driveway.  Well, hubby helped with the driveway, and I helped my mom to feed all the men that were working.  We baked some delicious pumpkin white chocolate blondie bars for dessert Saturday afternoon, and an AMAZING sour dough french toast bake for breakfast Sunday morning.  Unfortunately I was out of the zone and didn't take pictures of either, but you can click above to get the recipes for each.  Both items were a big hit!

One thing I CAN share with you tonight is a recipe for a very unique, very satisfying, very tasty apple pie that should definitely be added to your "must bake" list.  A couple of weeks ago, my buddy Christina of All's Fare Food Blog and I teamed up while our men watched football and baked up this French Apple Pie and a batch of "Everything Fall Cupcakes."  The cupcakes will get their own post from me since that was "my" recipe, but today, I will send you to Christina's blog to read about the pie, which was "hers."

She made the crust, used fresh, local apples, and the recipe called for a custard layer (possibly the element that makes this, a "French" version?) which put this pie over the top.  Christina did a great job for her first apple pie...the proof (for me at least) was when we were all stuffed full of dinner and pie and ice cream, and my husband had room for seconds.  When J takes seconds, especially when everyone else is falling asleep they're so full, you know you've done well.  So kudos to you, Christina, can't wait til we bake again!