These popular Russian pastries are typically made around the holidays. Their cuteness wins them the center of attention.
Even though they look like tiny little peaches, they don't taste like peaches at all. The cookie itself is a tender and perfectly crumbly when you bite into it. The cream cheese dulce de leche filling is made with a bit of rum for flavor and some cookie crumbs. This combination is absolutely delicious. I would eat it just like that. However, dipping the cookie into dyed milk and sugar transforms this pastry into a dainty, fuzzy peach and a small mint leaf in the center gives it a finished look. Enjoy. I was actually surprised how simple it was to make these pastries, so don't be afraid to give these a try.
For the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl with the paddle attachment on a standing mixer or using a hand mixer until fluffy. 
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. 
Whisk the flour and baking powder in a small bowl until mixed. Add to the cookie batter and mix just until incorporated. 
Form balls about 1 Tablespoon each and place about 1 ½ inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. 
Bake for about 11 minutes. Cool. 
Using a small paring knife or a butter knife, cut out a circle from the center of the bottom of the cookie, leaving a small border on the outside. 
Scoop out the center. Be very gentle when doing this since the cookie is very fragile and may break if you're not careful. 
Save the cookie scraps, you will need them later.
For the filling:
Mix the cream cheese and dulce de leche until well mixed. 
Add the rum and mix. Crumble the reserved cookie crumbs and scraps with your hands. 
Add the cookie crumbs to the filling and mix to combine.
To assemble:
Fill the scooped out center of the cookie with the filling using a small spoon or a butter knife, spreading a thin layer of the filling on the rim of the cookie too. 
Place two of the cookies filling side together and gently press together. 
Take 3 small bowls and fill one with sugar and the other two with the dyed milk. Use your own judgement as to the color that you want the pastries to be. I counted how many drops of dye I used, but you can make it brighter if you'd like.
If you'd rather use a natural dye, use freshly squeezed carrot juice and beet juice instead of the dyed milk. 
Dip half of the pastry in the Orange/Yellow liquid and coat in the sugar. 
Dip the other side of the pastry in the Red/Orange liquid and also dip in the sugar. 
Place the pastries on an aluminum lined cookie sheet and dry for at least 1 hour. The color will become more bright and pronounced as the pastries dry.
Right before serving, place a mint leaf in the center of some of the pastries. 
Peach Pastries With Dulce de Leche Filling
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 4 ½ sticks butter softened
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 6 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Filling:
- 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1 can dulce de leche
- ½ Tablespoon rum
- 1 ½ cups cookie crumbs
Topping:
- 1-2 cups sugar
- mint for garnishing
Yellow/Orange:
- 1 cup milk
- 50 drops yellow food coloring
- 2 drops red
Red/Orange:
- 1 cup milk
- 20 drops yellow food coloring
- 60 drops red food coloring
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl with the paddle attachment on a standing mixer or using a hand mixer until fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Whisk the flour and baking powder in a small bowl until mixed. Add to the cookie batter and mix just until incorporated.
- Form balls about 1 Tablespoon each and place about 1 ½ inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for about 11 minutes. Cool.
- Using a small paring knife or a butter knife, cut out a circle from the center of the bottom of the cookie, leaving a small border on the outside. Scoop out the center. Be very gentle when doing this since the cookie is very fragile and may break if you're not careful.
- Save the cookie scraps, you will need them later.
For the filling:
- Mix the cream cheese and dulce de leche until well mixed.
- Add the rum and mix. Crumble the reserved cookie crumbs and scraps with your hands. Add the cookie crumbs to the filling and mix to combine.
To assemble:
- Fill the scooped out center of the cookie with the filling using a small spoon or a butter knife, spreading a thin layer of the filling on the rim of the cookie too.
- Place two of the cookies filling side together and gently press together.
- Take 3 small bowls and fill one with sugar and the other two with the dyed milk. Dip half of the pastry in the Orange/Yellow liquid and coat in the sugar.
- Dip the other side of the pastry in the Red/Orange liquid and also dip in the sugar.
- Place the pastries on an aluminum lined cookie sheet and dry for at least 1 hour. Right before serving, place a mint leaf in the center of some of the pastries.
Olga,
Thank you so much for this recipe! My mom used to make those back when I still lived in Belarus. Just a question: would you happen to have the recipe of oreshki and mashrooms? I wanted to get the recipe from someone who already tried making them (mom doesn't remember since it was back in the Soviet times), in essence "проверенный" recipe.
Thank you
Hello Yana. I do have recipes for both Oreshki and Gribochki, but I don't have them posted here yet. It's definitely on my list.
Hi Olga, I made exactly how you explained, but it came out so soft it fell all apart.. what did I do wrong?
I'm not sure, Ellie. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.
The pastries are very tender and delicate. You need to work very carefully with them. That is why they come out so good, in my opinion, and aren't as hard and dry as most of the other ones that I've tried. Maybe you needed to bake them a little bit longer. Every oven is different. It's so frustrating when something doesn't work out. I'm sorry.
Thanks for the reply, I'll try it again today, but a lill different, Italian recipe .. I'll keep u posted. .
Elli
Would it be okay to freeze these cookies?
Hi olga,
I have a question what's dolce de leche? Is it the same thing as varenaya gyshinka?
Yep, it sure is, Valentina.
Where can I buy food coloring ? And where can buy cookie crumbs?
You can buy food coloring in any grocery store in the baking aisle, usually near all the spices, where you buy vanilla, etc. You don't need to buy cookie crumbs. When you scoop out some of the cookies from the center of the cookie, you save that and then use it in the filling. Then you fill the hole that you made with the dulce de leche filling that has the cookie crumbs in it, made from the cookie scraps.
Hi olga,
I have a question for u can I make peachs 2 days earlier ? And what's a cooking mix?
Hi Valentina. Yes, you can make the Peaches two days in advance. I'm not sure what you are referring to about the "cooking mix". Where did you see it in the instructions?
I love this cookies and made them couple of times already and for the first time i tried the filling the one you have written and it was ok...but next couple of times used Cool Whip (extra creamy or original, 8oz) instead of cream cheese and it totally taste different...you should give it try next time 🙂
That's a great idea, Alyana. Thanks for sharing. I personally don't use Cool Whip, but if you like it, I'm glad it works:).
Hi! I made these today, and mine don't come out smooth and round like you're:(. how do you get them so perfect? Do you just roll them in your hands? Did yours stick? Mine did, so I dipped my fingers in water between every couple balls. You think once I dye them and add the sugar they'll look more smoother? (Planning to do that tomorrow) Thanks in adbance! Wishing your family a very Merry Christmas! 🙂
Hi Olga!:) these are soooo good!:) I wanna make them today, how many of them is in one portion ?..just wanna make enough , for big family party
There should be about 50, Oksana.
Thank you!:)
The recipe says 50 pastries, Oksana. I don't remember exactly. I haven't made them in a long time.
Hey Olga, question for you. I made the cookies and filled them and they were great but after I dipped them in the food color mixture and while they were drying they became too delicate and started to fall apart. Not sure what went wrong but had that happen before for you?
You probably dipped them too long. You need to dip them in the color very quickly or they will fall apart.
Hi, do you think it's okay to serve these to kids? It has rum... I'm thinking about making it for my daughters birthday.
Yes, May, it's totally ok to serve it to children. The amount of rum is VERY little. Here's the math: 1/2 Tablespoon of rum divided by 50 pastries is 0.01 Tablespoon of rum in each pastry. I would say that isn't even a measurable amount and will most definitely not harm anyone, even children. If you ever use pure vanilla extract in your baking, then you should also know that it's based on alcohol, and usually a much higher alcohol content than rum. However, if you still are concerned about using rum or vanilla, you can always omit them both.
these look great! is dulce de leche like "sgushenka"? or it has to be specifically a can that says "dulce de leche"? thank you!
Yes, that is cooked "sgushenka". You can make it yourself. Natasha has a great method on her blog that I love to use. http://natashaskitchen.com/2012/03/02/dulce-de-leche-cooked-sweetened-condensed-milk/
Hello Olga! i just wanted to thank you for posting this recipe, I have been looking for this recipe forever. I tried to make them last night but when i took them out of the oven they were still in balls and didn't end up looking like yours "peach shaped" i was pretty disappointed:( i want to try again do you have any suggestions?
Hi Tabitha!
I'm sorry you were disappointed with the results of the pastries. However, I would recommend that you still try to assemble them. When you take them out of the oven, they do still have the ball shape, but when you scoop out the center, add the filling and put the two sides together, they should look more like peaches, especially when you color them.
These are very cute. I will give them a try. I do have a question though. It seems whenever I coat something with sugar it becomes really think with clumps. Any tips for avoiding that?
The tip is to let the liquid drip off as much as possible before dipping the pastries in the sugar.
Hello Olga! zdelala ya eti perciki vchera, chyt chyt povozilac no rezyltat bil ochen xoroshui. Cpocibo bolshoe za etot kracivui u lexkui retcept! Ya yje davno ickala takoi retcept. Moi doma cmeli vce srazy. ya xotela bi yznat chem ya mogy zamenit 1 can dulce de leche?
Thank You !!!
Hi Yulia! I'm so glad you and your family enjoyed the peach pastries. I guess you can use whatever kind of filling you like; I've never made it with anything other than Dulce de leche. I think cream cheese and Nutella might be a good idea.