2003 - Baking Central

How a Kolacky should look.

It felt like Baking Central around here today, Dec. 9. I planned to start as soon as I woke up but I discovered that Mom was out of parchment paper (which I required for Kolacky because they can be quite messy). Once she returned from Kroger, I started on the Snickerdoodle Pinwheels. All I had to do was slice and bake, since I had made the dough and formed the logs yesterday. I cranked out seven dozen of those spicy, swirly goodies, which I will make again. I wondered if they were going to be worth it — they are! I especially like the way they look.

Mom chipped in and helped me do the Kolacky. These remind me of little pies because they have a simple, cream-cheese dough that you fill with preserves or pie filling. We used raspberry jam on four dozen and peach preserves on the other five dozen. Mom put up a card table in the kitchen and we had a regular assembly line going.

The only problem was that some of the Kolacky would open up. We never could figure out why — we were convinced that they were all sealed when we put them in the oven but the odd one would pop open! Of course, it didn't affect the taste — they're so delicious. I used a bona fide diamond-shaped cookie cutter too. In the past, I've made due with a circular one, which is fine, but the recipe says to use a diamond. The diamond cutter was from my new set that Mom surprised me with — 101 cookie cutters! I looked through them like a kid inspecting Halloween candy after a night of trick-or-treating. I can't wait to try them all out. Thanks, Mom!