
Preparing these cookies requires a bit of a time investment, but they are such a special treat we know you’ll find them well worth the effort.
Hungarian Kiffles (Kiflis) Are A Holiday Tradition
Being of Hungarian descent, kiffles (also spelled kifli) have always been on hand at our family gatherings during the holidays. They take some work to prepare, but one bite will prove they’re well worth the effort.
Kiffles are delicate Hungarian cookies made with cream cheese dough and filled with various flavors of pastry filling. They make a beautiful contribution to any holiday cookie platter.

About Kiffle (Kifli) Fillings
It is very important that you use fillings that are made specifically for pastry in your kiffles. Pie filling will be too loose and jams and preserves can produce unpredictable results.
We’ve always used Solo Brand Cake & Pastry Filling and have never been disappointed. Solo makes a variety of flavors in 12-ounce cans. Pictured here are poppy seed, cherry, almond, and apricot.
Prune (lekvar in Hungarian), walnut, and poppy seed are the most traditional Hungarian choices and if you read through the comments, you’ll see that a few of our readers have included instructions for making these two fillings from scratch.
Pro Tip: How to Make All Your Kiffles the Same Size
Making sure your kiffles are uniform in size is not only about a beautiful presentation, it’s about even baking. The trick is to roll the dough into a perfect 9-inch square. Here’s how to do it:
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper 15 inches wide by 18 inches long. Fold 4-1/2 inches of each short side toward the middle. Make sharp creases and unfold.
- Fold 3 inches of each long side toward the center. Make sharp creases there as well and you should have a well-defined 9-inch square in the center of your parchment paper.
- With the flaps facing up, dust the parchment liberally with flour and place a portion of dough in the center of the square.
- Dust the top of the dough with flour as well, then fold the parchment along your creases to make an “envelope” around your dough.
- Turn it over (flap sides down) and place it on your rolling surface.
- Roll the dough from the center toward the corners as directed above.
- Remove the dough carefully to avoid tearing.
Once you have the dough rolled into a perfect square, you can easily mark off even intervals of 1-1/2-inches (6 per side) with the tip of a knife. Use your pastry wheel to make the cuts and you will get 36 kiffles (kiflis) per square.


Hungarian Kiffles
Ingredients
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 to 2-1/2 cups cake and pastry filling, about two 12-ounce cans
Instructions
Prepare the Dough:
- Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until very smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing just until combined. The dough will be quite moist, but not sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten into a square approximately 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 4 equal pieces and wrap each separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, a minimum of 2 hours.
Roll and Cut the Dough:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove one portion of the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a liberally floured surface.
- Dust the top of the dough with flour and cover with a sheet of wax or parchment paper. Working from the center toward the corners, roll the dough out to a 1/8-inch-thick square. It should measure about 9 inches.
- For best results, see our recipe notes below to learn how to roll your dough into a perfect square.
- Using a pastry wheel or a sharp knife, cut your dough both lengthwise and crosswise into small squares.
- Your total yield will depend on how large you make them. We recommend 1-1/2-inches which will give you 36 kiffles per square of dough or about 12 dozen total.
- The best way to keep the size even is to use a ruler and mark all 4 sides of the dough square at intervals with the tip of a knife. You can use the handle of a spatula to guide you as you cut to keep your lines straight as well (similar to drawing straight lines on a sheet of paper).
Fill and Seal the Kiffles:
- Working as quickly as possible, place a small mound of filling (about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon) in the center of each square. If the filling flavor you’re using is relatively smooth you can spoon it into a small freezer bag, snip off a tiny bottom corner and squeeze the filling onto the squares. This works particularly well with the poppy and almond flavors.
- Lift two opposite corners of the dough over the filling and gently pinch them together. Fold that "point" over to one side, moisten the tip of your finger with a bit of water and smooth it down gently on one side of the kiffle. This prevent the kiffles from popping open as they bake.
- Important Note: The various filling flavors spread a bit differently during baking so you may want to fill a few "test" kiffles and bake them to gauge the right amount of filling for each type.
Bake the Kiffles:
- Arrange the kiffles 1 inch apart on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake until barely golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then carefully transfer the kiffles to cooling racks.
- Repeat the process with the remaining 3 portions of dough, using different filling flavors if desired.
How to Store Kiffles:
- Store kiffles between layers of waxed paper in a tightly closed container and refrigerate. Bring them to room temperature (30 minutes out of the fridge), arrange on a plate and dust lightly with powdered sugar just before serving. It’s not advisable to top them with powdered sugar before storing.
- Makes 8 to 12 dozen
Notes
How To Roll Your Dough Into a Perfect 9-Inch Square:
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper 15 inches wide by 18 inches long. Fold 4-1/2 inches of each short side toward the middle. Make sharp creases and unfold.
- Fold 3 inches of each long side toward the center. Make sharp creases there as well and you should have a well-defined 9-inch square in the center of your parchment paper.
- With the flaps facing up, dust the parchment liberally with flour and place a portion of dough in the center of the square. Dust the top of the dough with flour as well, then fold the parchment along your creases to make an "envelope" around your dough.
- Place it on your rolling surface, flap sides down and roll the dough from the center toward the corners as directed above. Remove the dough carefully to avoid tearing.
This is very similar to a recipe I make ruglach with. I can’t wait to try it.
Hi Lacey,
Kiffles are somewhat similar to rugelach – hope you enjoy them!
thanks so much for posting the recipe! Thanks to all who commented with tips also. Tried and old family recipe, ingredients have changed much since the original recipe. I also had trouble with them opening up, will try tips to use a touch of milk to seal and let set 10 minutes before baking. And yes! jams and jellies were very unpredictable!
Hi Doris,
Thanks to our readers there are a lot of great tips and ideas here in comments. Glad you liked the recipe!
Can you make the dough and refrigerate or freeze? I don’t need to make so many so thought I could save some dough for later
Hi Carol,
You can certainly refrigerate the dough for up to three days or simply cut the recipe in half. I’ve never tried freezing this dough, so I can’t give advice as to whether or not it would affect how it rolls out or bakes. You can however freeze the kiffles once they’re baked.
My grandmother was from Hungary. I always make dough a few weeks before x-mas and keep in the freezer til time to make. They are fine. Also we roll into circles and cut into triangles. Fill bigger end and roll to look like crescents. Maybe it was a regional variatio
Hi Diane,
I do think my family’s version is a regional variation. From what I understand, the word “kifli” in Hungarian translates to mean “crescent” in English. I may try doing the crescent shape the next time I make them. You’re right – they freeze really well so you can get them made ahead of time.
Anyone know what the cookie my grandmother made? She cut dough up into squares, threw it into simmering lard, for a few minutes, probably seconds…drained and sprinkled with conf. sugar.
Does anyone know of a recipe and what it contained? Was it cream cheesed dough for kiflies?
Thanks! My dear cousin had just come out from kidney stone surgery, and he was still half looped.
On the meds…and he started talking about this cookie from our grandmother Kohut and wanted me to look up the recipe. LOL!
Hi Jane,
The cookies you’re talking about are called Csöröge. I have my great aunt’s recipe but truth be told, I’ve never made them. Now that you’ve brought it up I think I’d like to give it a try. I haven’t had them in decades. 5 eggs, well beaten – 2-1/2 cups sifted flour – 1/2 teaspoon salt – 1/4 cup sugar – 1 teaspoon baking powder – Combine the ingredients to make a dough, Roll out thin, cut into strips, wrap around your hand and fry in oil. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes 4 to 5 dozen
One assumes you remove your hand before frying in oil… 😉
Love hearing everyone’s family stories!
LOL – My great aunt didn’t specify in her recipe, but when I publish it here on the site, I’ll be sure to add that to the instructions 😉
Hungarian grandma called these necktie fank. I make them. Ladies at church want me to do a demonstration! After cutting to thin strips, cut on diagonal. Then put a slit in each. Pull one end thru slit. Stretch a little as drop into hit oil.
Hi Diane,
They must be pretty when you make them in that shape. Nice!
My grandmother called these “angel wings” , though I have her recipe box, I could never find this recipe…..thanks!
This is the way my mother taught me. She called them angel wings. So good.
I grew up in a family that was half Eastern European and we made LITERALLY this exact same recipe at least three times a year. Right down to the Solo filling. I’ve had it memorized since I was a kid.
Nice to see it here 🙂
Thanks Heather – these have always been a family favorite.
I brush a little egg white to bind the edges. They always come out nice looking.
If I use self rising flour and salted butter, will they come out more flaky.
Or is there a better recipe for ” flaky” Kiffles?
I do them all the time using the original Hungarian Recipe and they are great.
Hi Frank,
I’ve never tried using self-rising flour myself, so I couldn’t comment on whether or not the kiffles would bake up flaky. I’ve always used the recipe I’ve posted here. If you do try, I’d love to know how it works out. Thanks!
Don’t know…..I use unbleached bread flour and salted butter….but layering the butter like in a French pastry….folding itself over on itself…..would give a flakiness. But it’s time consuming.
My aunt Margaret taught me how to make these and I’m 65 now. I lost her recipe in moving around and have tried to duplicate it since. We used prune butter (also known as (lekvar)) as well as walnut butter. Thank you for posting this.
Hi Margaret,
My family always used the lekvar as well. Hope you enjoy!
I think I have found the perfect kifli recipe. It was my Aunt Pauline’s….now deceased…..and it was so easy.
BUT! Today I made it with a different butter…..I used Cabot salted. And my pastry was flaky and light.
5 cups of flour…King Arthur All Purpose
1 lb. Cabot butter (salted)
16 oz. of cream cheese.
I dumped all in the mixer and let it do the work. I think the trick of an easier dough is also to allow it to chill overnight in fridge. In any case, with prunes and apricots and walnuts (I make my own paste….can’t find that stuff down here in the South…) and a 375 degree oven….
…..they came out great. Made a lot of kiflis.
Jane
We sprinkle powdered sugar on ours
Hi Maggie,
We’ve done that too – just before serving!
Me, too! love the prune and apricot!
how do you make the walnut filling. I had used solo in the past, but they don’t make it anymore; just the almond one, and it is too sweet and sticky.
Hi Marguerite,
I’ve looked through a few books I have on hand, but none of them have walnut filling recipes that would be suitable for kiffles. Try searching on a walnut filling for rugelach. I think that would be the right consistency.
I’ve tried this with some success: ground up walnuts, one egg white and sugar….mix well. Fill the squares.
Jane
My mother-in-law was half Slovak and from Allentown, PA. I think most of those who make these are from that area of PA. Makes us like a big family. At Christmas, my mother-in-law, would bring a box of them to us, in a Lea’s Departments Store Box. They went pretty quickly. Always the favorite with her grandchildren. My daughter still makes these every Christmas with our standard Christmas cookies. There is nothing like cooking, especially cookies, to bind a family together for generations. One of my older sons loved the cookies the most, I think, but he would tell all the other boys, Don’t eat those. They are terrible. The sentence still is repeated over and over every time they go on the table.
Hi Maureen – Thanks for sharing your story with us. You’re right, recipes like this one do become a family tradition that spans generations. I think I’ll try the “don’t eat those” trick on uninformed guests!
I’m from PA, near Pittsburgh and these are a big cookie here at Christmas.
I have my Slovak Grandma’s recipe and we roll them in granulated sugar only.
So delicious!
We use 2 cups ground walnuts 1 cup powdered sugar.just enough coffee to moisten 2tbsp.mix to moisten
I just rediscovered our family recipe for these cookies – and here’s the nut filling instructions:
8 oz chopped nuts
1 small apple grated
sugar to taste
a little milk to hold together
Sorry about the vague measurements, but that’s often the case with passed down recipes!
Hi Hannah,
Thanks for sharing your walnut filling recipe.
This recipe was handed down from my great grandmother. Our Hungarian family base is in Johnstown & Windber, PA.
Here are our variations:
– we had a different dough recipe entirely: 1 pkg dry yeast, 1/4 c warm water, 1 lb Imperial or name brand margarine. Never store brand margarine (this warning is written in my grandmother’s handwriting circa 1940-1950. To this day I wonder what happened…… :-)) 1 can evaporated milk, 7 c flour.
-we had the walnut mixture filling. I didn’t like it but everyone else did. Lekvar (plum) filling is a requirement. No substitutions or excuses.
-our family has been making these for 100 years. One day my mother used Solo almond filling. These tasted so good I practically fainted. Its a staple now.
-the Solo fillings are by the baking goods (canned pumpkin, cherry filling for pies). But the price variation between grocery stores is wide in my area (Wisconsin). One grocery store sells it for $4.25, the one down the street sells it for $2.90.
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for sharing your family recipe with us. There are so many variations, it’s great to have the information.
Ahhh, I just stumbled upon this thread, and my grandma’s version is yeast dough too, and 1 egg. My Mom (now 76) grew up in New Jersey, and her mother was Hungarian and Czech. Prune is a must, but I remember them also with apricot filling when I was little….the dough is chilled overnight.