Cookies! Apricot Kolaczski, Kolachke, Kolache or Kolacky

Kolaczski, or whatever you call them, 

are a tradition here, 

as they are in many homes at Christmastime.

Forgot to sift the sugar on top!

There’s a plethora of names for this cookie, all with the same basic ingredients, and a plethora of fillings.  Put simply:  they’re a type of pastry, that holds a dollop of fruit, surrounded by supple dough.

This old recipe is from Helen, a friend of my mother’s in Louisville, whose Polish grandmother made these great cookies. 

I particularly like this recipe because it has a healthy dose of cream cheese, more than most kolaczski recipes.  The dough is what makes them exceptional!

Kolaczski come in many shapes ~ I cut the dough into squares, fold the opposing corners together and pinch the dough to seal the cookie.


Fill these delicious little morsels with a nut filling, pastry filling, jam filling or a cream cheese filling; I use apricot jam.

Dust a little powdered sugar over the cookies when cooled…

They’re perfect tasty little gems!


Apricot Kolaczski

Ingredients:

4 packages (3 ounces each, totaling 12 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
4 sticks (2 cups) butter, room temperature
3 cups flour
1½ cups apricot jam, more or less
Confectioner’s sugar

Method:

Beat together butter and cream cheese in bowl of electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add flour, 1 cup at a time, until well combined.
Divide dough into thirds; wrap each third in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Heat oven to 350°.
Remove 1 dough packet from refrigerator, roll to ⅛” to ¼” thickness on a floured surface.
Cut into 2” squares with a pizza cutter or knife.
Fill scantily, ½ teaspoon or less, with jam.  (If you use too much filling, it will run out onto the baking sheet.)
Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake until bottoms are lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Repeat with remaining refrigerated dough.
Generously sprinkle with sifted confectioner’s sugar.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Printable recipe


Enjoy!
  

Apricot Glazed Pork Chops

It’s 15 degrees below 0 this morning ~ that’s -15, and with wind chill, it feels like -30!

It’s so cold that I put the pork chops in the freezer to thaw!

Seriously, last night’s dinner of pork chops was delicious, and it’s all because of the “just right” slightly sweet savory glaze.  This is a Better Homes and Gardens recipe, combining apricot preserves with Dijon mustard and white wine.

The piquant sauce turned out to be a powerhouse glaze for the tender juicy pork chops ~ I helped myself to more than a little extra glaze.  It’s a great simple entrée for a weeknight meal, that’s plenty good for company. 

I can see this glaze for pork tenderloin in the near future, and for pork chops on the grill, if it ever warms up out there… 


Apricot Glazed Pork Chops 

Adapted

Ingredients:

2 thick pork chops, excess fat trimmed
Salt and seasoned pepper
Cooking spray

1 medium onion, cut into wedges
½ cup apricot preserves
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ cup white wine (or water)
1 teaspoon paprika

Method:

Season pork with salt and pepper.
Spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray and place over medium-high heat.
Add chops and onions, and brown chops on both sides.
Cook for 4-5 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and pour over meat.
Reduce heat to medium and cook covered until pork is cooked through, and fork tender.
Place on platter and top with sauce and onions.


ENJOY!

Tate’s Bake Shop ~ Baking For Friends ~ a Chocolate Raspberry Tart and a Giveaway

“A destination … worth putting miles on the odometer” is what The New York Times said about Tate’s Bake Shop.  It is the recipient of multiple best bakery awards and is regarded as a “must-visit” Hampton’s destination.  There are more than 100 offerings for its customers to enjoy, from breads, muffins, cakes, pies, seasonal specialties, and of course, cookies!

Photo credit:  Forbes Traveler

Kathleen King is the baker and owner of Tate’s Bake Shop in Southampton, New York, and the author of Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook.  She started baking her chocolate chip cookies when she was 11, and sold them at her father’s North Sea Farms roadside stand, never looking back. 

Kathleen King - Photo credit:  New Haven Register

And, now, Kathleen King has done it again!  She has written another great cookbook, Baking for Friends, which is chock-full of incredible recipes, featuring exclusive baking tips and tricks, in her straightforward manner.  It is the ideal go-to cookbook for beginning bakers and professionals alike.

I was so happy to receive Kathleen’s Baking for Friends, and drooled my way through all the recipes, when it arrived in the mail the other day.  It consists of 7 chapters with over 120 easy-to-bake recipes; some of them even with “catchy” names, plus recipes for health and lifestyle baked goods also:  gluten-free, low-fat, vegan, and nut free recipes.   

Blackout Cupcakes

Cherry Chip Party Cake

Blackberry Galette

 

There are so many enticing recipes to try ~ Maple, Bacon, and Date Scones; Robin’s Blueberry Buckle - Julia’s Way, Coconut Custard Pie, Cutie Pie (using clementine juice), Chubby Tates (cookies!), Hurricane Irene Cookies, Caramel Cake (Ummm, mmm!), Cardamom Cake, Blackout Cupcakes, and Chocolate-Blood Orange Marble Cake (wow!).  And the recipe I chose to make first:  Chocolate Raspberry Tart!

 

The tart is decadent, and is a beautiful, almost black, sleek-looking dessert.  The filling is smooth and not too sweet, and is the perfect finish to a special occasion.  Leave it plain, top it with fresh raspberries, or add a dollop of whipped cream to the slices before serving.

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

For the filling:

1¼ cups heavy cream

8 ounces bittersweet (62% cacao) chocolate, finely chopped

½ cup seedless raspberry jam

Chocolate Pastry Tart Crust, baked and cooled (recipe below)

1.  In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a boil over medium heat.  Remove from the heat.  Add the chocolate and let stand for 3 minutes to soften.  Whisk until melted and smooth.  Whisk in the jam.  Pour into the prepared tart crust.

2.  Refrigerate, uncovered, until the filling is chilled and set, at least 2 hours, and up to 1 day.

3.  Remove the sides of the pan, cut into wedges, and serve chilled.

Chocolate Pastry Tart Crust

Makes one 9-inch tart shell

10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder, plus more for rolling the dough

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1.  In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer set on high speed until light and fluffy. About 2 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in the cocoa powder.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until combined.  Shape into a thick dish and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day.  (The dough is easiest to roll out if chilled but not rock hard.  If it is very cold and firm, let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes before rolling.)

2.  Dust a work surface with cocoa powder.  (Flour leaves marks on the dark cocoa dough that I don’t like.)  Roll the dough out into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick.  Transfer to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  Roll a rolling pin over the top of the pan to cut off the excess dough.  Freeze for at least 30 minutes.  (Or cover with plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.  Thaw in the refrigerator before using.)

3.  Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

4.  Put the tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet.  Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork to vent it.  Lay a piece of aluminum foil over the entire surface of the dough and press so it conforms to the tart pan.  Fill the foil-lined shell with small dried beans.  Bake until the exposed dough looks set, about 20 minutes.  Lift off the foil with the beans.  Continue baking, pricking the crust again if it puffs, until the pastry looks crisp, about 10 minutes more.  Let cool completely on a wire cooling rack. 

Surely, after all of the above, the baking bug has bitten you!  To scratch that itch, head on over to Tate’s Bake Shop on Facebook ~ click here for details ~ and enter the Baking for Friends Bake-off contest, which is being sponsored by Tate’s Bake Shop and KitchenAid, in celebration of Kathleen King’s new cookbook. 

Your creative spin on a recipe just might win you the Grand Prize of $1000, plus a copy of Baking for Friends.  Other prizes awarded will be KitchenAid stand mixers, more cookbooks, and if you vote, 6 voters will be chosen to win Tate’s Tower of baked goods. 

By the way, if you can’t wait to get your autographed copy of Baking for Friends in your possession; head on over to Tate’s Bake Shop.com, and enter the discount code “BAKEOFF” to receive $5 off the regular price of $24.95 ~ you can get the cookbook for only $19.95!  Talk about a sweet savings for you!

And, now for the giveaway here at Pam’s Midwest Kitchen Korner:  Tate’s Bake Shop has generously offered a Tate’s Bake Shop Cookie and Bar Tower for one of you wonderful reader’s. 

Tate’s Bake Shop Cookie and Bar Tower is chock-full of goodies:  three boxes of cookies:  one each of chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and white chocolate chip macadamia nut, PLUS, two rich, buttery raspberry bars, two chocolate chip and walnut loaded blondies, and two rich, dense, and fudgy plain brownies ~ a $48 value.  

 

To enter, just leave a comment here on this page.  That’s it, that’s all you have to do!

But, if you’d like an extra chance, just follow Pam’s Midwest Kitchen Korner via Google Friends, as a fan on the Facebook page, or Facebook Networked Blogs, all on the right side bar of this blog, and leave a comment telling me you did so.

The contest is open through midnight CST, Wednesday, November 7, 2012.  The winner will be drawn Thursday, November 8, 2012 by a random number generator.

This contest is open only to U. S. residents. 

Thanks so much, Kathleen King, and Tate’s Bake Shop. 

And good luck to all of you who enter my giveaway!  I hope you win!

  

Disclaimer:  I was given a copy of Baking for Friends from Tate’s Bake Shop.  The Tate’s Bake Shop and Bar Tower for my giveaway, here on this post, is provided directly by Tate’s Bake Shop.  All opinions and thoughts are my own.

FYI:   Some of you are saying you're having a difficult time in trying to post a comment here for the giveaway.  This is being looked into, but in the meantime, I understand that it works fine using Google Chrome.  I hope this helps!

Slow-Cooker Bacon Jam

Dear bacon jam ~ I knew I loved you before I even made you! 

It’s sticky, porky, sweet, garlicky, savory and spicy.  Frying the bacon till crisp, and combining with onions, garlic and other ingredients, cooking long and slow for the onions to caramelize, allowing it to turn into a thick syrup; and finally, pulverizing it all in a food processor for one of the best chunky gustatory sensations you can imagine.

This recipe, from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine, has been floating around for at least a year, and I can’t imagine why it took me so long to finally make it.  The only change I will be making the next time is to double the recipe so as to share.  It is equally delicious served cold, room temperature, or warmed.  And it keeps well refrigerated for a month, if it lasts that long.

This is definitely one of the best things I have done with bacon.  I slathered this ‘jam’ on my toast this morning, but there are so many ways to enjoy it:  On a slice of tomato, on a burger, or a warm biscuit, grilled cheese, bagel chips, fried eggs, flambéed cheese, shrimp, scallops, whitefish, pork tenderloin, chicken, on crostini.  In quesadillas, on peanut butter or fried egg sandwiches, pancakes, waffles, burritos, pigs in a blanket, pizza, deviled eggs or potato salad.  Spread the bacon jam on a crescent roll before rolling and baking and serve either warm or room temperature.  Or just “straight-up,” right out of the jar!

Before

After 3.5 hours slow cooking

Slow-Cooker Bacon Jam

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 medium yellow onions, diced small
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed strong coffee

Method:

Line a platter with paper towels, and set aside.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the bacon is lightly browned, approximately 20 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, remove the bacon to the platter to drain.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat (discard or reserve for another use).

Add the onions and garlic, and cook until the onions are translucent, 5-6 minutes.

Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup and coffee, and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. 

Add the bacon, and stir to combine.

Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3½ to 4 hours.

If it starts to dry out after 2 or 3 hours, add ¼ cup of water at a time and stir well.

Transfer to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks.

Oh, my gosh, if you haven’t made bacon jam yet, you have to do it soon!  You might just love it and become addicted too!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and recipes.   She’s having an awesome giveaway now!

Tart Cherry Jam

“Life is just a bowl of cherries!”

Which do you jam on, whole wheat or white toast?

You folks out there living in Washington, Utah, Idaho and Oregon make me green with envy about those red cherries!  You are the lucky ones who live in the states that produce 70% of the cherries (sweet and sour) grown in the U.S.  

Years ago we had a couple of  tart cherry trees of our own and who knows what disease got them; maybe it was just old age!  I loved them though for making jam and baking pies and other goodies.  There was a cherry orchard nearby which closed right after our trees died, making it nearly impossible to find tart cherries around here.  We have to drive up to Wisconsin or Michigan for them. 

My story gets sadder.  This year the cherry season was only a week-end long in Southern Wisconsin as there was a late heavy frost which meant very few cherries were for the picking.  Unfortunately, I was busy that weekend and couldn’t make the trip.  So last Friday was a trip to get some frozen tart cherries.  They were shipped from Northern Wisconsin to the orchard in Southern Wisconsin in 5 and 10 pound tubs. 

Then, Linda at My Kind of Cooking told me that they were talking about me on her radio segment on Passion Radio that Friday.  So Linda, I told you I was on an “errand” and this is what it was, a road trip for the tart cherries.  I’m so sorry I missed your great show and now I’m wondering what you said…

I do not make jam the traditional way with a canner.  I learned from Mom many years ago, to make the jam and after cooling, place the jars in the refrigerator.  She used to refrigerate a gallon glass jar with jam and so did I.  It was easy, delicious and kept for many months.  I still do the same but in pint canning jars instead.  The jars are sterilized in the dishwasher and while still hot, filled with the hot jam, cooled and then refrigerated.

Frozen tart cherries

Boiling away

Jarred

Tart Cherry Jam

Ingredients:

3 pounds sour cherries (4 cups chopped cherries)

4¾ cups sugar

1 box pectin

Method:

Sterilize jars (I use the dishwasher).

Chop cherries 1 cup at a time using a potato masher for best results.  If using a food processor, pulse to chop.  DO NOT PUREE as jams have a bit of fruit.

Measure exact amount of prepared fruit into a 6- or 8-quart saucepot.

Measure exact amount of sugar into separate bowl.

Stir 1 box pectin into fruit in saucepot.

Bring mixture to a full rolling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.

Stir in sugar quickly.  Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with a slotted spoon. 

Stir, skim off foam and repeat until there is no foam forming. 

Ladle quickly into hot jars, filling to within 1/8” of tops.

Wipe jar rims and threads.

Cool.

Cover with lids and refrigerate. 

Makes 3 pints

It’s the best ~ cherry jam!