How To make Nancy's Ice Cream Kolacky

1 pt Vanilla; or
French vanilla ice cream 1 lb Margarine
4 c Flour
Solo brand fruit filling; yo -ur desired flavor Powdered sugar Recipe by: Hammond times (Cook of the week), 12/7/95
Add flour to margarine and crumble in pastry blender. Add ice cream to crumbled mixture and, using dough hooks, work into dough. (If you don't have dough hooks, use your hands. Rubber gloves will help cut down the cold.) When dough is smooth, shape into ball and refrigerate overnight. Roll dough to about 1/8-inch thickness on a floured surface. Using the rim of a glass dipped in flour, cut out circles. Authur comments: Christmas just isn't Christmas for the family and friends of Nancy Koronkowski until they catch the aroma of ice cream kolacky wafting from her oven door. Nancy's mother, Valentina Nowak, was known as a great cook and a fantastic baker. As a child, Nancy gobbled up her share of yummy pastries, paying scant attention to how they were created. Before Valentina died, she told her daughter, "Nancy, you've got to learn to make ice cream kolacky." But it wasn't until after her mother's death that Koronkowski found in a church cookbook the recipe she's sharing today. Her efforts were rewarded when her daughter, Karyn, said, "Mom, these kolacky taste just like Grandma's." When first married, Koronkowski scouted for recipes in cookbooks because she was embarrassed to ask her mother. "Once I asked Mom how to make chicken soup," she recalls. "Mom and her friend had a good laugh and Mom said, 'Just throw the chicken in the pot and cook it!' " Today, Koronkowski loves cooking. She has a cabinet full of recipes and is fond of making soups, including chicken and oxtail. Each Christmas Eve, in keeping with tradition, she makes Polish sausage. For Koronkowski, cooking and baking are ways to make her family happy. "My husband, Bob, loves my cooking," she said. Actually, Koronkowski makes kolacky throughout the year because her family and friends keep asking for it. Each Christmas, she bakes 10-12 batches of kolacky to share with others. There's just one problem with this moist, subtly sweet cookie. Once you bake them, your family is likely to expect them year after year. Place on cookie sheet and make a thumbprint in center of each. Fill thumbprints with 1/2 teaspoon Solo filling. Bake in 350-degree oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool. -----