Croatian Kiflice (Jam Filled Crescent Cookies) Recipe

With a tender flaky outer cookie and luscious filled center, it’s not a surprise that Croation kiflice, or jam-filled crescents, are an absolute favorite dessert amongst grown-ups and kids alike.

Whether it’s a birthday party, wedding, shower or any other special events, it’s not truly a celebration if there aren’t kiflice! You will find these jam-filled crescent cookies at any Croatian gatherings and they’re typically the first to be devoured!

The mixture of delicate, flaky pastry, tart jam or other filling and sweet sugar coating make them an irresitable dessert. This recipe makes a pretty large batch (64 cookies) so they’re perfect for feeding a crowd. Moreover, any leftovers freeze really well, so you can pull them out if company comes over or to enjoy with your afternoon tea.

Filling Options for Kiflice

While we love our kiflice filled with jam, there are a number of ingredients you can use instead, based on your tastes:

• Jam: plum, apricot, quince jams or quince paste work best. They are slightly tart and a bit firmer so they con’t melt when heated. Strawberry is not ideal.
• Nutella: great for chocolate lovers!
• Walnuts: Combine 1 cup of ground walnuts with a 1 tbsp warm milk, 3 tbsps sugar and 1 tsp vanilla to create a paste.

As with most butter pastries you want to try to keep the butter cold to get a nice flaky result. Shred the cold butter to help mix it well with the flour, work quickly and try not to handle too much with your hands.

How to Make Kiflice

Preheat oven to 355F.

Dissolve yeast and sugars in warm milk and let sit for about 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine eggs with sour cream with a fork. Add in the yeast mixture.

Shred 1 cup of cold butter (after shredding, butter will measure more than 1 cup so be sure to measure butter before shredding).

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and shredded butter and mix until blended together. Add in the yeast mixture and mix on medium speed until combined (1-2 minutes).

Remove from mixer and kneed briefly to form a large ball. Then divide this into to 7 to 8 evenly sized smaller balls. If dividing into 7, then the kiflice will be larger than if dividing dough into 8 balls. Work one ball at a time and place the other balls in the fridge in the meantime.

Roll each ball to about an 8 inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 triangluar slices (like a pizza).

Add 1-2 tsps of filling (we used plum jam) to the wide edge of the triangle (as much as will stay in when the pastry is rolled).

Turn the corners in a little bit (helps to keep the filling from draining out).

Starting on the wide side of the triangle, roll each triangle to form small crescent shapes.

Arrange onto ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper about 1” apart.

Bake at 350 for 14-16 minutes, until slightly golden.

Once your kiflice are baked you can place them on a wire rack to cool. Alternatively, while they’re still warm, you can dip them in sugar (a combination of granulated and vanilla sugar).

There you go! You are a Croatian pastry goddess! Just be warned – once you bring this treat to your next gathering, you’ll be asked to bring them all the time!

Additional Cookie Recipes to Try:

• red, white and blue almond cookies;
• simple waffle cookies;
• snow-capped pecan short bread cookies.

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