Lard cakes (sádlové koláčky) were a little overlooked but recently, they’ve been gaining on popularity. Will they be your Christmas favorites?
The Czech name for the lard cakes is sádlové koláčky, sádlovky or černé koláčky (black cakes) and as the name suggests, they are made from lard. They are not the Christmas cookies you’d find at every photo of a Czech Christmas table, however, it seems they have found their way to just onto the table of families that have never made them before but also into the articles of food bloggers.
And deservedly so. They have the perfect size, they are just one-bite-cookies, hence the name koláčky (small koláče). Their taste is very intriguing – they have very tender texture with the jam adding just a bit of spiciness. I recommend using jam from more acid fruit such as red currant. Just like with linecké, sweet cookies go best with a piquant jam.
Before we start, I’d like to invite you to browse my Christmas recipes, there’s plenty of cookies!
Ingredients
- 150 g/5.3 oz of lard
- 200 g/7 oz of powder sugar + some for sprinkling
- 150 g/5.3 oz of all-purpose flour
- 40 g/7 oz of cocoa powder
- red jam
How to make Lard Cakes
Combine all the ingredients except the jam and form small balls, this amount will yield 60 – 70. Hold each ball in the palm of your hole and poke a dimple in it with a finger. Place the cakes on a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 160oC/320°F. Bake for 15 minutes. Fill the dimples with jam and place back in the oven for 5 minutes, this will help the jam set and become part of the cake.
Let the cakes cool down and sprinkle with powder sugar.
