These Peach Cookies (Persiki) are amazing! Soft homemade cookies are carved out and filled with apricot, dulce de lech cream, then soaked and garnished to achieve its peach appearance! A highly popular pastry in Russian and Ukrainian Cuisine!
Italian Peach cookies don’t compare to these delicious pastries! Persiki (which means peaches) is a super popular dessert in the Russian and Ukrainian culture and especially at weddings! It’s no wonder they win a spot on the dessert table–they’re simply delish! Although there’s some work behind the peach appearance no art skills are required so you don’t need any professional tools. The end result is rewarding and of course, the taste is superb! It wasn’t until my mother-in-law brought me a plate of her peach pastries, that she made for a wedding, that I was won over! They were literally so soft and so good! I made 3 batches shortly after that.
4. Carve out the bottom centers of the cookies while still warm.
5. For the CREAM:
Beat together the soft butter and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the dulce de leche and apricot jam. Beat in the cool whip and mix until light and fluffy (about a minute.)
6. Fill each hollowed out cookie and join every two halves together. Chill until hard enough to handle when decorating (at least 2 hours.)
7. Dilute 1/2 cup of milk with each dye. Add enough food coloring to achieve a medium colored orange and red. (I used Wilton Christmas red and 2 drops of Spectrum super red for the red dye and Wilton creamy peach for the orange dye.)
8. Dip one cookie half into the orange dye and the other half into the red dye, place on paper towels to set. Once finished dipping, dredge into the sugar. (For an extra crystallized coating dredge in sugar twice.) Refrigerate before serving.
Food Coloring Dyes Used:
FAQ
What are Peach Cookies?
Peach cookies are soft baked cookies that get hollowed out and stuffed with cream. The two cookie halves then get joined together for the ultimate peach appearance.
What’s the difference between Russian and Italian Peach Cookies?
Italian peach cookies typically contain lemon zest and liquor. Russian peach cookies usually have a dulce de leche caramel filling and require no liquor.
How do you make the sugar coating for peach cookies?
Dipping the cookies into a food coloring solution, then immediately rolling in sugar will give you the sugar crust.
Can I make peach cookies without food coloring?
If you would rather not use food dye try a plant-based food coloring dye or make my other peach cookie recipe that requires the hollowed-out cookie crumbs tossed in colored sugar instead.
Tips
- Not into food dye? Ditch the food coloring and roll into the hollowed-out crumbs and colored sugar instead!
- Poke mini leaves into the center for an ultimate peach look! (Then discard.)
- Double dip into milk for an extra crusty sugar coating!
- Freeze or store ungarnished cookies for later assembling.
Peach Cookies
Ingredients
Peach Cookies:
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 8 Tbsp softened butter
- 2 Tbsp sour cream heaping
- 1 Tbsp mayonnaise heaping
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 heaping teaspoon baking soda diluted in 1 TBSP of lemon juice
Apricot Dulce De Leche FILLING:
- 2 TBSP softened butter
- 5 oz dulce de leche
- 2 Tbsp apricot jam
- 3 oz cool whip
- DECORATION:
- 1 cup milk
- red food coloring
- orange food coloring
- 3/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- For the COOKIES: In a large bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar. Stir in the softened butter and add in the sour cream, mayo and baking soda mixture and whisk together.
- Stir together the baking powder and flour then add to the wet mixture and knead together until the dough comes together and resembles a soft playdough-like consistency.
- Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Roll dough into heaping teaspoon sized balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Carve out the bottom centers of the cookies while still warm.
- For the CREAM: Beat together the soft butter and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the dulce de leche and apricot jam. Beat in the cool whip and mix until light and fluffy (about a minute.)
- Fill each hollowed out cookie and join every two halves together. Chill until hard enough to handle when decorating (at least 2 hours.)
- For the DECOR: Dilute 1/2 cup of milk with each dye. Add enough food coloring to achieve a medium colored orange and red. (I used Wilton Christmas red and 2 drops of Spectrum super red for the red dye and Wilton creamy peach for the orange dye.)
- Dip one cookie half into the orange dye and the other half into the red dye, place on paper towels to set. Once finished dipping, dredge into the sugar. (For an extra crystalized coating dredge in sugar twice.) Refrigerate before serving.
