By my second day in Vodice, Croatia, my early morning was spent in the kitchen of Luka’s restaurant assisting in the morning preparations. My goal was simple – learn how he went about creating the incredible Croatian dishes he served each day.
The air was filled with incredible aromas from pastries baking, stews simmering and meats roasting. I worked side by side with Luka’s staff while Luka over saw our efforts. Then I would watch Luka take the results of our efforts and transform them into his wonderful creations.
One of the special treats for my efforts occurred when a tiny pastry, kolač, came out of the oven. Tiny squares of flaky dough folded over fillings such as apricot or poppy seed or walnut. Each pan generally resulted in one or two of the pastries that had opened rather than remained rolled. These were my reward for serving as his prep cook. Luka declared them “slomljen” (broken). He would then prepare both of us a latté and we would sit outside, watching daybreak across the Adriatic Sea and enjoy our treat of “broken” kolač. I began to notice that every day, more and more of the pastries seemed to open during baking so my rewards increased. Eventually, on my final morning, I departed with an entire bag of “broken” kolač.
Luka’s story of the kolač went back to his childhood in his Baka’s (grandmother) kitchen. As Christmas approached, he and his cousins would rush from school at the end of the day to his grandmother’s house. Each day, just as they arrived, she would pull a sheet of kolač from the oven. Baka would tell them they were all “slomljen” so the children were required to eat them to hide her embarrassment. Luka and his cousins enjoyed hiding Baka’s embarrassment well into their teens.
I watched Luka each morning as he pulled the kolač dough from the refrigerator, rolled into thin sheets, cut into small squared, filled and brought the sides together. What I did not see was his recipe. He would only tell me it was mascarpone cheese, butter and flour. There was no sugar or flavorings, just simple dough.
Upon my return home, I began experimenting with mascarpone cheese, butter and flour until I was able to create a pastry as flavorful as Luka’s. Then one day when I was ready to make the dough, I did not have mascarpone. Intent on baking, I searched my refrigerator for a substitute. The only ingredient I could find that would provide a comparable fat content was vanilla bean ice cream. And that experiment resulted in the recipe below.
I also wanted to find a way to create a dessert from these fabulous cookies. As Luka repeatedly told me, “sometimes simple is best.” Hence, the simple stack of cookies plus a bit of whipped cream.
This recipe also includes unsweetened coconut to the dough. It provides the structure to the dough required to create larger cookies for stacking.
While apricot and almond create the fillings here, any fruit or nut filling could be used.
The ice cream is vanilla bean but the flavor can be changed by using varying flavor types.
½ c vanilla bean ice cream
¼ c + 2 T butter, unsalted, room temperature|
1 c all purpose flour
¼ c unsweetened coconut
¾ c apricot jam or preserves
½ c almond filling
½ c heavy whipping cream
1 T powdered sugar
¼ t almond extract
2 T almonds, finely ground