# How do you make/spell these Polish(?) cookies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753 "2010-02-28T16:55:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/1 "2010-02-28T16:55:22Z")
Years ago (years and years and years and _years_ ago), my great-grandmother made these fantastic sour cream cookies. They were roundish (not cookie balls, but possibly hand-rolled rounds put on a cookie sheet), I think they had a cinnamon sugar egg wash, and possibly had nuts incorporated in them. She arrived via Poland and Belgium (Europe was a bit tumultuous in the 1920s), so while I’m pretty sure they were Polish, I can’t be sure. Oh, and throw in a bunch of Yiddish background too. The best hint I have to what they are/were was their name. But I have no idea how to spell it, haven’t had any luck with Google et al, and don’t even know if this is a common name or a family name. Phonetically, they were _po-gotch-keys_. That’s “po” as in Edger Alan, “gotch” as in the first part of gotcha-ya, and “keys” as in a few Francis Scott clones. Vague, huh? Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/2 "2010-02-28T17:12:43Z")
Just asked my Polish mum: sorry no luck =( ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/3 "2010-02-28T17:22:32Z")
To me, it sounds like a Polish corruption of the Hungarian (or Turkish) _pogácsa_. [Wikipedia link.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pog%C3%A1csa) What you have transliterated there sounds to me like “little pogacsa” in Polish. edit: I should add, pogácsa are typically savory. I’ve never seen a sweet one. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/4 "2010-02-28T17:25:49Z")
I found a recipe [here (the very last post)](http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/274709) for a sweet(er) version of pogácsa. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/5 "2010-03-01T06:06:33Z")
One more thing. Is it possible what you’re describing is [rugelach](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=&ei=RFSLS87-DY6QNpip8aYB&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=rugelach&spell=1&start=0)? Given the description, it sounds possible. Anyhow, what you have there would be written as _pogaczki_ in Polish. You could also search under _pogacza_. The former would be the diminutive plural form of the latter. I did a little more research and found that in Czech or Slovak, you could look for _pagáčky_ or _pagáč_. The dish continues going south under similar sounding names through at least Turkey (I find it in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and I find a few Macedonian references to it, as well.) The only relevant references to pogaczki I could find on the internet refer to Hungarian pogacsa (_wegierskie pogaczki_), which are savory. The Czech pagáčky also all seem to be savory. At least I couldn’t find any recipes online with cinnamon or much sweetness to them. So, I have a number of ideas of what could be the case: 1) There’s a sweet version of pogacsa that exists, but is not terribly popular or well-documented on the internet. 2) The name was borrowed by your family from the savory pogacsa and applied to a similar-looking, but sweet dessert. 3) There’s a similar sounding dish to pogaczki, and I’m just digging up a false cognate tree. I can’t think of anything else in Polish that would fit, though. Pączki is _kinda_ close, but minus a syllable. It is sweet, but it’s also a jelly donut, so it doesn’t fit your description. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/6 "2010-03-01T17:22:18Z")
My grandma makes [Kolace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolache). They’re generally filled (my favorite is ground walnut filling, yum yum!) but the dough is definitely cream cheese based. I could see just making the dough and baking them that way. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/7 "2010-03-01T18:18:15Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > My grandma makes [Kolace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolache). They’re generally filled (my favorite is ground walnut filling, yum yum!) but the dough is definitely cream cheese based. I could see just making the dough and baking them that way. Yeah, _kolaczki_ are probably the most typical (or at least well-known) Polish cookie (or Czech, Slovak, etc. At any rate, it’s from that part of the world.) I didn’t think to mention them because it sounded different (OP mentioned sour cream in the dough, kolaczki dough sometimes has cream cheese, but I don’t know about sour cream.) Pogacsa do often have sour cream in the dough. But it could be all these cookie-biscuit type things intersecting. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/8 "2010-03-01T19:38:21Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, _kolaczki_ are probably the most typical (or at least well-known) Polish cookie (or Czech, Slovak, etc. At any rate, it’s from that part of the world.) I didn’t think to mention them because it sounded different (OP mentioned sour cream in the dough, kolaczki dough sometimes has cream cheese, but I don’t know about sour cream.) Pogacsa do often have sour cream in the dough. But it could be all these cookie-biscuit type things intersecting. Yeah, my grandpa was Polish and my grandma is Slovak. So I grew up with a mishmash of Slovish terms. 🙂 I know that there are some recipes out there for kolace with sour cream, probably just because it depended on what was available to immigrants? Now I really want some walnut kolace. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/9 "2010-03-01T20:00:30Z")
Another one I just thought of is the Polish [_kocie oczka_ (“cat’s eyes”)](http://www.mojeprzepisy.pl/Przepis/ciasteczka_kocie_oczka/). Those are usually made with sour cream and butter in the dough, in a roundish shape, but with a dollop of jam in the center (to make the cat’s eye.) ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/10 "2010-03-01T20:20:58Z")
Perhaps [paczki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki)? The store I work at sells these every year around Mardi Gras time. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/11 "2010-03-01T20:22:44Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Perhaps [paczki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki)? The store I work at sells these every year around Mardi Gras time. 😕 Paczki are doughnuts, not cookies. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-make-spell-these-polish-cookies/530753/12 "2010-03-01T20:26:18Z")
Awwwwww yeah! Thank you thank you thank you! Followed **pulykamell’s** link and those sounded right. Funny thing is that that thread mentioned the Hungarian Pastry Shop by Columbia—I can’t tell you how many hours I spent there studying away! What a small world. My mom was a bit leery of the recipe’s call for a half cup of sour cream and two egg yolks for four cups of flour. But the spelling made all the difference and we found [these](http://www.recipezaar.com/Hungarian-Butter-Cookies-Pogacsa-344063). She made them and that was it! Clearly not _exactly_ the same, but close enough for fond memories. Thanks!