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I’ve already shared my Granny’s kolache recipe, but it’s time for another one of her favorites! These Czechoslovakian cookies are a crumbly, sweet cookie bar that we make every Christmas.
Czechoslovakian Cookie Recipe
I love it when I get to share a little more of my Granny with you guys. Over time, I’ve realized that our family’s Christmas stories are some of my favorites here on the blog. And, they make me feel more connected to her to look at her handwritten recipes, especially around the holidays.
So, today’s post is just like the cookie recipes I shared here and here. Family favorites, all. Simply put, these Czech cookie bars are basically a buttery, nutty cookie bar with layers of strawberry jam. They go pretty fast in our family!
The way they’re served is a lot like when you make brownies, in that you eventually find a preference for the outer pieces (with that slightly more baked edge) or the inner ones. I’m strongly in favor of the inner pieces, but to each their own. Onto the recipe…
PrintCzechoslovakian Cookies
These Czechoslovakian cookies are a crumbly, sweet cookie bar that we make every Christmas. It’s an easy crowd pleaser and perfect for a cookie swap.
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hr 15 min
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: dessert
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. softened butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 to 1 cup strawberry jam
Instructions
- You have two options for mixing: as some commenters have noted, you CAN cream the butter and sugar together first, then add the eggs, and then slowly add in the flour. Note that the dough will get thicker as you add each, so a stand mixer might be the most helpful to use for this. Traditionally, we’ve often just mixed the whole thing as a single mixture without creaming the butter and sugar separately first. This is entirely up to you; we have gotten an enjoyable cookie both ways.
- Take half of the dough mixture and layer in a greased 8×8 pan.
- Spread a little more than half of the jam on top, over the dough layer (eyeballing half-to-two-thirds is fine; this is a crumbly cookie where the layers merge as they bake, so imperfect is ok).
- Spread the remaining dough on top of the jam layer.
- Add remaining jam, spreading thinly (it thickens in the heat of the oven and helps the top layer of nuts to stick as the dough puffs up).
- Top lightly with more chopped nuts.
- Bake at 350 º for 1 hour.
- Place on a rack to fully cool, then cut into squares.
Notes
Pecans are an excellent substitute for walnuts if you have a preference.
Correction added 12/30 to change the pan size; the (handwritten) original recipe implied a double batch for a 9×11 pan.
More Family Recipes
Check out these other family favorites!
Definitely gonna make these
These look so good! Do you recommend egg yolks only (per the recipe card) or the whole egg as in the recipe?
Thanks! Iโm planning on making them this week.
I couldn’t remember if I’ve made them with just yolks, so I asked Mom just to be sure. She has made them both ways, and she says she’s noticed no real difference. So, I put the whole egg in the online recipe because it’s a lot easier to not have to separate out the yolk and just crack the egg. Hope you and your family love them as much as we do, AM! <3
Good tasting cookies. But here’s a few things about the recipe. 1) it requires some interpretation due to vagueness. An inexperienced cook might do exactly as the recipe calls to throw everything together and mix not knowing the sugar and butter should be creamed and whipped together first. 2) the 9 x 13 pan is definitely way off the mark unless you plan on a layer being paper thin. So 8 x 8 seems more appropriate. 3) the batter is so sticky I would mention using a little water on your hands and pressing the batt er r into the pan.
Chris, feedback from Mom (since this is a family recipe and I’ve often made these hovering around her while I observe ?):
1) We have often thrown ALL the ingredients in together, so creaming the butter and sugar shouldn’t really affect it much.
2) The 9×13 pan is for a double batch, so I’ll correct that.
3) Great tip on using water or adding just a touch more flour if it’s too sticky to handle.
Glad you enjoyed the taste! My late granny would be happy to hear that you liked them.
I also agree about creaming the butter and sugar together first, add eggs, and slowly add in flour (possibly finishing with a wooden spoon by hand. Same with nuts.) Unless you’re using a stand mixer, the dough will be really stiff and too hard on a hand mixer.
My issue though, is you say to add a 2nd thin layer of jam on top. Maybe I should’ve looked at other recipes besides yours, or looked at your grandmas recipe card a little closer. Nobody says to add a 2nd layer, just yours.
Also, your instructions aren’t clear. Sometimes you have to be specific.
You said nothing about when to cut into it. Just cut and cool on a rack. Instead of following my gut, I let it cool a standard 15 min before taking a knife around the edges and then i tried cutting my lines.
The end result? A disaster for my batch.
So to be clear to the author, or whoever reads this…..
Add your ingredients in steps.
Only do 1 layer of jam.
Let it cool completely before cutting into.
Noted, thanks for the input on adding more steps. I’ll look to revise with clearer instructions (this is created from a very old family recipe exactly as it was passed down to me). I suppose some of our recipe intuition could be from habit without even realizing it. However, in terms of layers and whether or not to add a second layer of jam: this is literally my grandmother’s recipe handed down to us. So, no, I won’t be changing the recipe to instruct people to use only one layer beneath the dough. If that’s the way you prefer it, I’m happy you like it that way! But this is how we make it, and others can try it our way as well; that’s the beauty of trying a recipe (sometimes they have small differences that are quite enjoyable). The second layer of THINLY applied jam helps the final dusting of nuts on the very top to stick well. After it’s cooled, that layer becomes thicker and the nuts sort of settle into it instead of crumbling off if they had gone onto the dough by itself. Hope that helps.