Baba's Cream Cheese Kolacky Submitted by LIN

This recipe won #1 Cookie for 2008 in the Chicago Tribune Contest...it's wonderful!!

This recipe, submitted by Emily Dressel of River Forest, was handed down by her grandmother, Baba. During a kolacky-baking lesson, Baba offered this advice for making these tender cookies: "You have to just sense it, Emily. The dough will tell you what it needs."

1bag (10 ounces) dried apricots

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

2 cups flour (I added 1/2 tsp. of sugar to the flour)

Confectioners' sugar

1 Place apricots in medium saucepan; cover with water. Soak overnight. Heat the apricots and water to a boil in medium saucepan over high heat; reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring often with fork to mash and adding water if needed, until smooth and thick, about 10 minutes. (If necessary, you can chop finely with a knife or process about 1 minute in a food processor or chopper.) Add the granulated sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Cool completely.

2 Blend together the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; gradually blend in flour, using hands once the dough has begun to form, until it can be shaped into a ball (this may be more or less than 2 cups). Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

3 Heat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough into thirds. Roll out each third on a floured board into a 12-by-8-inch rectangle, 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick. Cut into 2-inch squares with a pizza cutter. Place 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of the apricot filling in the middle of each square. Fold each corner into middle; pinch together. (Moisten fingers with cold water if dough does not stick.)

4 Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets; bake until golden, about 17 minutes per batch. Cool on wire rack; sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Makes: About 6 dozen