I have a great recipe to share with you today, Yugoslavian Christmas cookies. I’m crazy for Christmas cookies and finding unique recipes is an obsession of mine!
The first time I had these was at a neighborhood cookie exchange. I had one bite and fell immediately into cookie bliss! Ever since that first bite, these have been in my regular Christmas cookies rotation.
But, let me tell you a little secret, I not only make these for the holidays, but these cookies are in demand at my house all year long!
A layer of buttery cookie sits under jam, which sits under fluffy meringue, which sits under nuts — yes, each layer is delicious, and yes, they combine into an utterly delectable treat that you’ll love any day of the year! The texture is crisp rather than that of a crunchy Christmas crack but both are equally addicting!
Ready to give your holidays a European twist? Add Italian Christmas cookies and Germany’s pfeffernusse cookies to your list!
Let’s bake some cookies!
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What I Love About This Yugoslavian Christmas Cookies Recipe
- Fifty minutes from start to finish
- Fabulous flavor combo!
- Easy to make but tastes complex
- Meringue!!
Yugoslavian Christmas Cookies Recipe Notes
- Cutting: Because of the meringue element in these bars, it’s imperative that you use a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to cut them rather than just pushing the knife straight down to cut. Doing the latter will crush the bars and make a total mess.
- You Can Meringue: Meringue always seemed like one of those complex desserts that only trained chefs could make. Wrong! Meringue is surprisingly easy, especially in recipes like this. Whip your egg whites and add sugar.
- My recipe has you add lemon extract, which is a necessary addition to help your meringue hold its structure. Give it a try! You got this.
- Is the Meringue Crying? Another tip to make sure your meringue turns out as perfect as I know it can is to spread your meringue all the way to the edge of the cookie tray. This will help prevent weeping when meringue starts to “melt” after baking.
- Jam: My Yugoslavian Christmas cookies recipe calls for blackberry jelly — but if you want to up the Eastern European influence, there’s a whole world of jams and jellies you can try. One of my favorites is the plum jam. Plum yum!
How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?
Putting these cookies in the fridge is not advisable. Just cut up your bars and store them between layers of wax or parchment paper in an airtight container.
Can You Freeze This?
Because the meringue is in contact with the moist jam, you have to be careful when freezing. After you thaw them, the meringue will lose a bit of its structure, but the flavor will still be yummy.
Because of this interaction of moisture and meringue, I recommend only freezing meringues for up to a month.
Make Ahead Tips
Once you start making the meringue you’ll have to follow the recipe through to the end. Meringue is very much not make-ahead friendly! It works best with fresh eggs and will lose its volume over time unless you bake it right away.
The good news is they’re just as delicious the day after they’re made.
Serving Recommendations
Grab these cookies and make yourself a cup of spiked hot chocolate or apple pie moonshine and watch some Hallmark’s Christmas movies or just wrap yourself up in your coziest blanket!
Recipe Variations
- Use almonds instead. If you have leftover ground almonds from baking vanillekipferl, use it instead of ground walnuts.
- Add a hint of cinnamon. Some Yugoslavian Christmas cookies recipe have cinnamon in it! Both my cream cheese spritz cookies and danish wedding cookies have 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. I suggest not adding more than a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon here if you try it that way.
- Use pecans instead. Pecan shortbread cookies and butter pecan cookies both use chopped pecans, just grind it in the food processor to make it a substitute to the ground walnuts.
More Christmas Cookies Recipes
- Chocolate Christmas Cookies
- Christmas Butter Cookies
- Candy Cane Cookies
- Reindeer Cookies
- Christmas sugar cookies
Yugoslavian Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk large
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup ground walnuts
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 cup blackberry jelly
- 1/4 cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream butter and sugar together thoroughly; add egg yolk and salt and combine. Add flour and combine. Pat mixture into a 9X13 inch pan.
- Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually add 1 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until you reach a meringue consistency. Gently fold in ground walnuts and lemon extract.
- Spread jelly over dough mixture in pan.
- Swirl meringue over jelly. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
- Bake for about 40 minutes. To cut, use a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion.
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Nutrition
I’ve been making these for years, probably 8 or 9 now. I haven’t the past few years and just thought of these cookies out of nowhere. I looked it up and realized this is the same recipe I wrote down all those years ago. I’m going to make a batch and make sure not to forget the lemon extract like that one time. 🙄 Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi, Kyle! I’m glad you saw this recipe. The lemon extract does a lot, right? Enjoy baking!
This receipe has been in my family for generations. My Great Aunt made these for years she got the receipe from her Mom, she passed the receipe down to her daughter (my Aunt) who passed them on to me. My Great Aunt was born in 1900 so that tells you how old this receipe is. I make it all the time and I use my homemade blackberry jam instead of store bought. It is totally a win win cookie and I give a variety of homemade cookies out for Christmas and everyone truly Loves the Yugoslav cookie its light and flavorful.
Oh my goodness, Kathy! I’ve never spoken to anyone else who has had these cookies in their family. I love them so much! They are incredibly light, nutty and fruity!!!
Hi.. is the jelly to be prepared as per instructions?
Hi, Ravneet. I transfer the jelly from the jar to a measuring cup and spread it over the dough. The most popular blackberry jelly brand is Smucker’s. Hope this helps!
Got it.. Thank you! 🙂
I will make these again but will be certain the jelly has been strained to remove all berry seeds. I used Kerrygold butter for the shortbread and, while delicious, the cookies are prone to crumbling.
Hi, you are right about the meringue is prone to crumbling! I use a serrated knife and gently cut them. Great idea to stain the jam. <3
What is the best way to store these?? Can they be frozen short term??
Hi Karen. Yes, they can be frozen. I freeze them in a hard container to protect them because they are fragile. I store them in an airtight container at room temp generally. <3
Can I freeze these for later?
Hi Thom. Yes, they can be frozen. 🙂
I’m Croation & Slav & I will have to make these cookies along with Potica & all other ethnic dishes. They sound yummy!
Hey Marlene! I Love these so much! Hope you do as well!
Hi.. post is pretty old but these are very similar to my country New Zealand and called Louise Cake.. might give them a go
Hi, Lisa! Yum, Louise Cake and this cake really looks the same! I hope you enjoy making it! 🙂
Hi Kathleen. I also will try this recipe. And bombice both for the holidays. Our family is from HR and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lovely to find recipes from this part of the world. Wish We had a konoba and peka to make some of the other dishes with. Thanks for sharing
Hi, Shannon, I hope you enjoy <3
Do these cookies need to be refrorated? Thanks Margie
Hi Margie. I store them in an airtight container at room temperature. 🙂
Nice post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed!
Extremely helpful info specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info much.
I was looking for this particular info for a long time.
Thank you and best of luck.
These cookies sounds amazing…
I bookmarked the recipe to give it a try next week.. I always look for a unique treats to try.
thanks for sharing, i will let you know
:)) I am from former Yu, and this is known as 'London stanglice' (smth. like Bars from London) or according to some sources 'Damen Kapric' (smth. like ladie's caprice). I like it very much!
I make these as well and they are called Zora Kolachi. What a great idea to add lemon extract. See my entry for 'Zora kolachi' http://draganabakes.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html Yours look delicious!
Thanks for mentioning this name, Dragana. I saw this recipe promoted on Yummly today and was looking for it through my old ‘Croatian Cuisine’ cookbook (1978, by Alojzicje & Ruzica Kapetanovic), which includes 42 pages of pastry resipes! Thanks to your naming it, I found a similar one (using 5 egg yolks and whites and ground almonds) called Zagorje Kolach on page 268.
i'm so impressed! Coming from a family where I grew up on these, I never thought I'd see them in the blog-world! they look great!