Bulgarian Maslenki Cookies
Now that’s it’s officially the holiday season, this year I wanted to spread the joy with baking homemade cookies. I started with this jam filled holiday cookie, Maslenki, which originates from Bulgaria. Traditionally made from lard, I substituted with butter.
Also the cookie normally gets topped with dusted confectioner’s sugar however I opted out.
To get started you will need the following ingredients: butter, large eggs, self-rising flour, sugar, apricot spread and cookie cutters.
Step one – Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and then let it cool to room temperature.
Step two – In a large bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar. Whisk for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, it should look foamy and yellow like the image above. You can also choose to stir in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract at this point.
Step three – Pour the room temperature melted butter to the egg mixture, in a slow stream, whisk it in as you pour.
Step four – In small batches, add in the flour to the egg mixture. Stir to combine into a dough consistency. Once the dough comes together go ahead and cover it in plastic wrap to refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step five – Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Line two pans with parchment or wax paper. Roll out the dough to about 1/8″ thickness. I like to dust the counter with some AP flour to prevent it from sticking.
Step six – Cut out the desired shapes with your cookie cutters. Then reroll the scraps of dough until you finish it and continue cutting out cookies. Now traditionally some of the cookies should be cut out in the center with small designs like a heart or circle but I did not choose to do that. Arrange the cookies on the pans with about 1″ space in between each.
Step seven – Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Then remove the cookies and transfer onto a wire rack to cool off.
Step eight – Once cooled, flip them over so you can spread some apricot jam on half of them. I like to use canned apricot jam because the consistency holds better.
Step nine – Top them off with the other empty halves. You can also choose to dust them lightly with confectioner’s sugar. Keep them in an air tight container for up to 5 days.
There you have it, some delicious holiday cookies from Bulgaria made in your own kitchen. Happy Holidays!
Prep time – 30 mins Cook Time – 10 mins Servings – 18
- 2 sticks butter (1 cup)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 cups self-rising flour
- 1 cup apricot jam
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- Confectioner’s sugar for dusting (optional)