Polish Cream Cheese Cookies

These little Polish Cream Cheese Cookies or Kolaczki are sooo good!  I really could not resist going in for seconds, thirds, fourths….. You get the picture! Yes!  I ate an embarrassing amount of cookies!
Mom was feeling a little nostalgic with Christmas quickly approaching and decided to bake up some memories.  Grammy and Grampa have been gone for a couple years now and we lost Dad just before Christmas last year.
We miss them dearly and it can be a little difficult this time of year especially.  One thing that always makes me feel like they are still with us are when we cook the foods they loved.
I don’t remember Grammy ever making these exact cookies but she certainly made similar ones.  She definitely would have loved these Kolaczki though and would be proud that we were Celebrating Our Heritage.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 (8 ounce jars) Assorted jellys
• 3 Sticks Unsalted butter ,softend
• 1/2 Cup + more for dusting Confectioner Sugar
• 1 (8 ounce package) Cream Cheese
• 3 Cups All-purpose flour

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 Degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with butter until light and fluffy. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix well. Divide dough into quarters. Wrap each quartered dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 
3. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick on a silicone mat or a surface that has been dusted with equal parts confectioners' and granulated sugars (not flour), Mom just used granulated sugar. 
4. Using a pastry wheel or pizza cutter, cut dough into 2-inch squares. Place 1/2 to 1 teaspoon filling on center of each square. Overlap opposite corners of dough to the center over filling, pressing dough together to seal. ( Brush a tiny bit of beaten egg white on the dough where you want it to stick together to help it stick better. This will help prevent it from unsticking during baking)
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or when corners start to brown. Cool completely and dust with confectioners’ sugar.