These traditional Polish crescent cookies with walnut filling, also known as kifli, are buttery, delicate, and melt-in-your-mouth favorite Christmas cookies also loved at Easter and Passover.
Whether you call them kiflies, kifli, roszke, kolaczki, kolacky, or kolache, these easy walnut cookies feed the crowd and are the single most famous holiday treat that you can make.
Kifli (also spelled kiflies, kieflies, or kiffles) are the perfect cookies for sharing and gifting because, with just a handful of ingredients, you can have quite an incredible number of cookies.
I even cut the original recipe (found in our local newspaper - South Bend Tribune) in half because there were so many cookies! And then, I updated the recipe and cut the ingredients in half again!
📃 Why it Works
- They feed a crowd.
- Easy to make.
- The ingredients are all pantry staples.
- You don't need yeast for the dough.
- It's not Christmas without these popular kiflies.
- They are great for gifting at any time of year.
What are kiflies?
Kiflies are Eastern European's favorite crescent cookies with flaky yeastless dough and heavenly walnut or fruit filling (usually jam, but you can also mix in dried fruit). They are rolled in powdered sugar, but they aren't overly sweet.
Rumor has it kifli originated in Hungary and are sometimes called kolache cookies - depending on the country, you will find them as rolls, roszke, rosky, or rosćići (little horns).
Either way, these delicacies will melt in your mouth, making this Christmas treat an unforgettable experience for everyone who tries one.
🛒 Ingredients and Notes
All of the ingredients for kiflies are common, so you probably already have them on hand.
- You need all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, egg yolks, and sour cream for the dough.
- For the filling, you need egg whites, regular or powdered sugar, and ground walnuts.
See - nothing bizarre! However, add a teaspoon of vanilla to the filling if you like!
🔪 Instructions
📝 NOTE: Looking for the FULL recipe to print? Find the complete list of ingredients and detailed instructions in the recipe card below.
Step 1
- Add the cold butter to the flour.
- Using a food processor, a pastry blender, or a fork, blend the butter and flour to create a coarse, crumb-like consistency.
- In a large bowl, mix the egg yolks and sour cream.
- Add the flour mixture. Blend and knead lightly until the mixture is like pie dough.
Step 2
- Shape the dough into 24 walnut-size balls, cover, and refrigerate for an hour.
- Meanwhile, make the filling, beat the egg whites until fluffy, add the sugar, and beat until stiff.
- Gently fold in the ground nuts.
Step 3
- In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour and sugar. Remove half of the balls from the refrigerator and roll them into a flour/sugar mixture; roll the balls out into a thin circle.
- Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on each and roll it into a crescent shape. Pinch ends; place seam-side down on a greased cookie sheet.
- Bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes; cool slightly and roll them in confectioners' sugar.
Don't be surprised when you open your tin of cookies, and everyone comes running. They're just that irresistible, especially during the holidays.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
- Add a teaspoon of rum, vanilla extract, cinnamon, or lemon zest to the filling if you prefer.
- Make sure to roll your dough very thin, or it will puff up and crack.
- For nut allergies, replace the walnut with almonds or use your favorite jam or pastry fruit filling.
- This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can. Replace the walnuts with almonds (if you're not allergic to them), or use your favorite jam or pastry fruit filling. Even better if you use homemade jam.
For those who are gluten-intolerant, you'll love this gluten-free kiflie recipe from another South Bender (her Christmas memories also involve grandma baking kiflies).
Stored in an airtight tin or container, they will keep for a week in a cool place.
Yes, freeze the baked cookies for up to 6 months. Just make sure not to roll them into powdered sugar if you decide to freeze them. Do so after they're defrosted for at least two hours and have reached room temperature.
Perhaps you didn't beat the eggs with sugar until stiff (I've made that mistake). It's also possible that your eggs were large or jumbo-sized. To prevent the thin filling from running out, add more ground walnuts.
I always make meringue cookies (you'll get about 12). Spoon filling (about a tablespoon) onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake (or rather dry) at 200°F for an hour.
What are your Christmas traditions?
If you're from a European household like me, any "crescent cookie" sounds somewhat legendary. After all, these are something only your grandma could execute flawlessly; even then, it took years of practice!
Tell me your favorite Christmas cookie in the comments!
✍ Reviews
My parents have been gone a few years now, and wanting to make our favorite cookie again, I began surfing the web and found your site and kifli recipe.
Now, my brothers and I have a Kifli cookie competition every year, and surprisingly, there’s never a winner or loser….They get better every year….almost as good as mom’s…….
Anyway, wanted to let you know that you saved the day three years ago, and we’re all introducing our neighbors in three different states (Florida, Nevada, and Wisconsin) to the wonders of the Kifli…..
Via email - Tom K., Wisconsin
More Chrismas Cookies to Try
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📖 Recipe
Polish Christmas Cookies - Kifli
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 stick unsalted cold butter, diced
- 3 egg yolks, from medium size eggs
- ¼ cup sour cream
Filling
- 3 egg whites, from medium size eggs
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 ½ cups walnuts, ground or finely chopped
Coating
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Dough
- Prepare dry ingredients: Using a food processor or a pastry blender, blend the butter into the flour, creating a coarse, crumb-like consistency.
- Prepare wet ingredients: Mix the egg yolks and sour cream in a large bowl.
- Make the Dough: Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Blend and knead lightly until the consistency is like a pie dough. Shape into small, walnut-sized balls, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Filling
- Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until fluffy. Add ⅓ of the sugar at a time and beat until well blended and the mixture is stiff.
- Gently fold in the ground nuts.
Assemble
- Coat the dough balls: Whisk together two tablespoons of all-purpose flour and two tablespoons of sugar in a medium bowl. Take half of the dough balls out of the refrigerator and roll them into the flour/sugar mixture. Keep the rest chilled.
- Roll the dough: Roll the balls out on a small amount of flour/sugar mixture into a thin circle.
- Fill the dough: Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on each dough circle and roll it up into a crescent shape. Pinch the ends tightly - place seam-side down on a parchment paper-lined or greased cookie sheet.
- Repeat the above steps with the rest of the dough and filling.
- Bake the cookies: Bake kiflies in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly.
- Coat the cookies: Roll the warm cookies in a bowl of confectioners' (powdered) sugar.
Video
Notes
- Add a teaspoon of rum, vanilla extract, cinnamon, or lemon zest to the filling if you prefer.
- Roll the dough into walnut-size or smaller. You can also tear the dough into 24 equal-size pieces and then roll it into balls.
- Make sure to roll your dough very thin, or it will puff up and crack.
- Some filling might come out. No worries, there will still be enough left in the cookies.
- For nut allergies, replace the walnut with almonds or use your favorite jam or pastry fruit filling.
- Bake the cookies on two large cookie sheets on a convection setting or bake in batches.
- This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled.
- You will have leftover filling. You can try to cut the filling in two-thirds or half. I always use the excess filling to make meringues. See the recipe in the FAQs section of the post above.
- For more helpful tips, see the post above.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in December 2018 and updated in September 2022 with new photos, a video, and recipe tips.
Chris says
While I loved this recipe, and how the instructions were laid out, the time involved is a gross underestimation. I would double the time on this recipe.
End product is the closest I've come to reproducing this family classic! Well done!
Jas says
Thank you so much for your feedback and a lovely rating, Chris!
Suzanne Steidl says
The final product is tasty but here's the thing: Three egg whites make way more than needed for the 24 kifli recipe. I got about 20 tablespoon size baked meringues with the left-overs. One cup of sugar for the meringue was way more than enough. Plenty sweet. And two cups powdered sugar to roll them in after baking? They hold barely a dusting, so way too much. I'll enjoy eating them but probably won't make them again unless it's with amendments to the recipe. Extra egg white will get frozen for future use.
Melanie McNamara says
I found that the recipe made too much filling and that it was necessary to add more walnuts but still was too liquidy and seeped out of the seams. Is there anything else that I can use the left over filling for?
Jas says
You can use leftover filing to make meringue cookies. Check out Frequently Asked Questions section in the post for details. 🙂
Kayla J Zlamal says
So happy to find an authentic recipe. My husband and neighbor loved these! Spot on to how his mother made them. Thank you so much ❤️
Jas says
So glad you like them, Kayla! Thanks for leaving your feedback. 🙂
cora says
I add orange zest to the dough.gives them a unique flavor and my baba always did it.
Jas says
Love that, Cora! Thanks for sharing with us. Happy Holidays!