Polish Butter Cookies

The secret to these tender Polish butter cookies is something most people have never seen in a cookie recipe: hard-cooked egg yolks pressed through a fine sieve and worked into the dough. That old-world technique adds richness and fat without any extra moisture, creating a crumb so delicate it practically dissolves on your tongue.

Combined with a raw egg yolk, unsalted butter, and both almond and vanilla extracts, the result is a dough that smells incredible before it even hits the oven. These are meant to be rolled thick at ⅔ inch, which is much plumper than most cutout cookies. That thickness is intentional. It gives you a cookie that’s crisp at the edges but stays soft and almost shortbread-like in the center.

Cut them small, just 1 to 1½ inches, with heart or star cutters. The two-hour chill firms the butter enough for clean cuts that hold their shape during baking.

Pro Tips

• Press the hard-cooked yolks through a fine mesh sieve, not a coarse one. You want a powdery, snow-like texture that disappears into the butter. Any lumps will show as yellow spots in the finished cookie.
• Pull them when barely colored. These cookies should be pale, not golden. Even a slight overbake dries out that tender crumb you worked so hard to create.
• Use a wooden spoon for the flour, not the mixer. Overworking the dough develops gluten and turns these from tender to tough.

Variations

• Lemon twist: Replace the almond extract with lemon extract and add a teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest for a citrusy version.
• Jam sandwiches: Cut a small window in the top cookie of each pair, bake, then sandwich with a thin layer of raspberry or apricot jam.