Everyone loves traditional Eastern European Christmas treats - especially these Polish kiflies, which are easy walnut crescent Christmas cookies. They are delicate, addictive, and buttery - they just melt in your mouth!
Are you drooling yet? These easy cookies feed the crowd and are the single most famous Christmas cookie that a mom can make.
Kiflies (also spelled kieflies or kiffles) are the perfect cookies for sharing and gifting because with just a handful of ingredients, you can have a quite frankly incredible number of cookies.
I even had to cut the original recipe in half because there were so ridiculously many cookies!
These walnut crescent cookies are incredibly easy to make. However, they still take some time to get right, so make sure to read the entire recipe before starting.
What are kiflies?
Kiflies are Eastern-European crescent cookies with flaky dough and heavenly walnut or fruit filling. They may be rolled in powdered sugar, but they aren’t overly sweet.
They are also known as rolls, roszke, rosky, or rosćići (little horns) depending on the country.
🛒Ingredients and Notes
All of the ingredients for these kiflies are common, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them.
- For the dough, you just need flour, butter, egg yolks, and sour cream.
- For the filling, you need more egg whites, powdered sugar, and chopped walnuts.
See - nothing bizarre! However, you can also add a teaspoon of vanilla to the filling if you like!
🔪Step by Step Instructions
*Keep scrolling to get the full (printable) recipe, ingredient amounts, and more tips, or click on the “Skip to Recipe” button at the top of the page.
- Make the dough - In a large bowl, using a pastry blender, fork, or a food processor, blend the butter into the flour creating a coarse, crumb-like consistency. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks and sour cream. Add to flour mixture. Blend and knead lightly until the mixture is like pie dough. Shape into small balls and refrigerate overnight.
- Make the filling - Place egg whites in an airtight container and refrigerate. The next day, beat the egg whites until stiff. Add powdered sugar and beat well. Stir in nuts and refrigerate.
- Fill the dough - Mix all-purpose flour and sugar. Take half the balls out of the refrigerator and place it in a flour/sugar mixture. Roll balls out on a small amount of the mixture into a thin circle. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on each and roll up into a crescent shape. Pinch ends. Place seam-side down on a greased cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies - Bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly and dip in a bowl of confectioners' sugar.
See? While it’s a tad time-consuming, it isn’t technically challenging. If you’ve got the time, then you should definitely try your hand at making them!
A word to the wise is to put some aside for yourself when you’re done baking your batch.
Don’t be surprised when you open your tin of cookies and everyone comes running. They’re just that irresistible, especially during the holidays.
👩🍳Top Tips
- You can add a teaspoon of vanilla to the filling.
- For nut allergies, replace the walnut filling with your favorite jam or pastry fruit filling.
- Bake the cookies distributed between two large cookie sheets on convection setting or bake in batches.
❓FAQs
Yes, you can. Obviously, you can’t enjoy the walnut version, but you can replace the filling with your favorite jam or pastry fruit filling. Even better if you use homemade jam.
For those of you who are gluten-intolerant, you'll love this gluten-free kiflie recipe from another fellow South Bender (her Christmas memories also involve grandma baking kiflies).
Stored in an airtight tin or container, they will keep for weeks 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 your eggs were large or jumbo size. To prevent the filling from running out, add more of the ground walnuts.
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, and even then, it took years of practice!
Making the dough is a whole craft itself, but it is worth all of its time and effort put into it.
Yes, it’s one of those “make the dough a day before and let it sit overnight recipes.” But baking is all about making something we love, and not buying it from the store. Plus, making these cookies has some sentiment to them.
However, if you’re not European, then this may all sound a little strange to you.
Looking for more ideas?
- If you need inspiration for holiday baking, you might like this list of cozy Christmas comfort food ideas and tips for a perfect holiday meal.
- If you’re a fan of easy desserts, you might also like this easy Christmas trifle - it’s much less time-consuming!
- Or, if you’re looking to impress your family, then these edible Christmas candles might just do the job perfectly!
😋 Other Amazing Recipes to Try
- Gingerbread Cookie Village
- South African Crunchies
- No-Bake Chocolate Salami
- Edible Christmas Candles
- Fun Mushroom Shortbread Cookies
Liked this recipe? Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and/or a review in the comments section. Your feedback is always appreciated! Stay in touch through Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook! Don't forget to sign up for my email list below too!
Easy Polish Walnut Kiflies - Holiday Crescent Cookies
Equipment
- Pastry blender or a food processor
- Rolling pin
- Mixing bowls
- Cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- ½ pound (2 sticks) cold butter diced
- 6 egg yolks from medium size eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
Filling
- 6 egg whites from medium size eggs
- ½ pound powdered sugar
- 3 cups walnuts finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, using a pastry blender, blend the butter into the flour creating a coarse, crumb-like consistency.
- In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks and sour cream. Add to flour mixture. Blend and knead lightly until mixture is like pie dough. Shape into small, walnut-sized balls, cover, and refrigerate overnight (makes about 52-56 balls).
- Place egg whites in an airtight container and refrigerate.
- The next day, beat the egg whites until stiff. Add powdered sugar and beat well. Stir in nuts and refrigerate.
- To a medium bowl, add 2 tablespoons each of all-purpose flour and sugar. Take half the balls out of the refrigerator and place in flour/sugar mixture. Keep the rest chilled.
- Roll balls out on a small amount of flour/sugar mixture into a thin circle. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on each and roll up into a crescent shape. Pinch the ends tightly. Place seam-side down on a greased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly and dip in a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Store the kiflies in a cool place.
Expert Tips
- You can add a teaspoon of vanilla to the filling.
- 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 filling with your favorite jam or pastry fruit filling.
- Bake the cookies distributed between two large cookie sheets on convection setting or bake in batches.
- Freeze baked and cooled cookies but not covered in sugar. Lay them on the counter for 2 hours to thaw and then dust with powdered sugar if desired.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on products used.
Margaret Walter says
A couple issues with the recipe: This makes much too much filling. 2 C walnuts is a be better amount. Making the dough into balls the size of walnuts (uncracked walnuts?) makes about 33 cookies. Also there is no advantage to making the balls first rather than rolling out the full dough and cutting into circles. Just adds an extra step which is not necessary. Flavor was good, but the beaten egg whites caused the filling, after baking, to not fill up the full cookie.
Jas says
Hi, Margaret! You can definitely roll out the dough and cut it into circles. This recipe is not the bible, although it is handed down from a Polish settler. I like to make it into balls, the size of "uncracked walnuts" (as you can see in the process photos) because it leaves no dough scraps that turn into mush after you process it too many times. As far as filling, I also had some leak through but the majority of cookies were filled up, as you can see from the photos of halved cookies. 2 C walnuts would make the filling way too runny. Perhaps your egg was the jumbo size, or wasn't beaten long enough? Humidity and heat level could also play a role in why it didn't turn out.