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I love testing and eating new cookies. I especially love cookies made with any kind of fruit. These are called “Tertiy Pirog” meaning grated pastry since the final layer of the cookie bars is grated over the top. This recipe was shared with me in a comment on my blog by one of my readers. The recipe was left anonymously so if it was you and you’r reading this, thank you!! My hubby really liked these cookies. They will have you reaching for a tall glass of milk. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Tertiy Pirog:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened at room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, room temp
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp white vinegar
2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 cup jam or thick preserves (I used strawberry spread from Costco)
Powdered sugar for dusting, optional
How to Make Strawberry Cookie Bars:
1. Using a stand mixer, cream together 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 egg.
2. Stir together 1/2 tsp baking soda with 1/2 tsp vinegar. Once it fizzes, pour over your batter and mix until well combined.
3. Blend in 2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour. P.S. I measured flour by fluffing it up with a spoon then spooning it into the measuring cup and scraping off the top for exact measurements.
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
4. Freeze 1/3 of the dough for 45 min to 1 hr. Place remaining 2/3 of dough onto a large sheet of parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with flour and roll into a 9×13″ rectangle. Transfer rolled dough with parchment paper onto a jelly roll pan (rimmed cookie sheet; I used a 10×15″). Cover rolled dough with plastic wrap and leave at room temp until remaining dough is ready for grating.
5. Spread 1 cup of strawberry preserves over the top (or your favorite preserves – pick one with a little bit of sour/tartness). Grate the frozen piece of dough evenly over the top of your preserves. Bake at 350 for 25 min or until top is golden. When cooled, dust with powdered sugar if desired and cut into square cookies.
Strawberry Cookie Bars (Tertiy Pirog)
Ingredients
- 1 stick, 1/2 cup butter, softened at room temp
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp white vinegar
- 2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup jam or thick preserves, I used strawberry spread from Costco
- Powdered sugar for dusting, optional
Instructions
- Cream together 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 egg.
- Stir together 1/2 tsp baking soda with 1/2 tsp vinegar. Once it fizzes, pour over your batter and mix until well combined.
- Blend in 2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour. P.S. I measured flour by fluffing it up with a spoon then spooning it into the measuring cup and scraping off the top for exact measurements.
- Freeze 1/3 of the dough for 45 min to 1 hr. Place remaining 2/3 of dough onto a large sheet of parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with flour and roll into a 9x13" rectangle. Transfer rolled dough with parchment paper onto a jelly roll pan (rimmed cookie sheet; I used a 10x15"). Cover rolled dough with plastic wrap and leave at room temp until remaining dough is ready for grating.
- Spread 1 cup of strawberry preserves over the top (or your favorite preserves - pick one with a little bit of sour/tartness). Grate the frozen piece of dough evenly over the top of your preserves. Bake at 350 for 25 min or until top is golden. When cooled, dust with powdered sugar if desired and cut into square cookies.
Made these two days in the row! Made them once with unbleached flour and once with bleached flour- both times cookies were delish! Second time sprinkled some finely chopped walnuts on the jam- oh…. Soooo good! Thank you , Natasha for this awesome recipe! We used to call these cookies ” кучерявый Ванька”…not sure why, but thats how i remeber threse cookies… 🙂
I love how Slavic foods have the most interesting names; some are pretty funny! Like Ptichye moloko (birds milk) – something that might make Americans run in the other direction when they first hear about it. lol. We are creative people I tell you what! 🙂 I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for sharing how you made them!
Yes, very true:-) that’s why i try to avoid translating the names of certain foods… Lol
Made these twice already. They are so easy, and so good. I spread half strawberry, half peach jam and put chopped walnuts on top. My co-workers loved them. Thank you.
I love the idea of doing two types of jam and adding walnuts. YUM!! 🙂
How well do these keep? I’m having a party and like to do as much ahead of time as I can. Can I make these the day before and maybe keep them in the fridge?
Yes you can make them a day ahead and even keep them at room temperature.
These bars are so gorgeous, I love the strawberry filling!
Thank you so much Laura 🙂
i made these with raspberry preserves today. i just had trouble grating the dough. i kept it in the freezer for a little over a hour. but by the time i finished grating it, it was defrosting and sticking together. so i had to roll it all out and cut little pieces out of it. phew. but it still turned out amazing! love these!
It might take longer depending on if you shaped it into a little log or kept it in a ball and depending on where you put it into the freezer. It helps to use an oven glove to keep your hands off the dough so it doesn’t soften as quickly. I’m so glad you liked the cookies though 🙂
These cookie bars look incredibly delicious! Definitely craving a bite of one right now.. thanks for the awesome recipe Natasha!
Thank you so much for the compliment 🙂 I hope you love these!
Natasha these are dangerously yummy:)) first time I made these I ate the whole batch myself:/
I’m so happy you like them 🙂
How did I miss this post?! Tertiy pirog is one of my faves! My mum and I made it all the time when I was growing up. It tastes wonderfully and requires just a few ingredients! I have a couple of variations on my blog-filled with tvorog/cream cheese and fresh apricots. 🙂
I love that you turned it into a cake! It looks wonderful!
Thesenlook delicious. Nimnmaking them for my hubby today. Cant wait to taste them.
Happy birthday to your hubby! I hope you both enjoy the cookies 🙂
Rhey were delicious! I made them with plum jam. Thank you for these wonderful recipes!
I’m so happy to hear that you liked the cookies 🙂 Someone else mentioned plum jam with these. Sounds wonderful!
Made these today with homemade plum jam(recipe I got from your website). These cookies are Yummy and easy to make. My rolled out dough wasn’t as perfect as yours but I just cut the side and pasted:) Thank you!
I’m so happy you liked the cookies and even used the jam recipe! That’s awesome! 🙂
Natasha,
Is the consistency of this dough like shortbread? It looks like a really tasty recipe, but I’m not a fan of shortbread. 🙂 So I’m trying to see if it’s worth trying or not. 🙂
It’s somewhat similar but softer.
Natasha! I made these last night and was amazed at how easy it was, and everyone in the house loved them! 🙂 Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for a great review 🙂
Wonderful idea, very easy to make ! They look delicious!
Thank you 🙂
Simple to make, but so delicious little cookies. I get that jam from Costco all the time, taste like home made. Your photos look very nice too! 🙂
Thank you Valya, they were eaten very fast :).
I love your strawberry cookie bars! They remind me of my childhood, as my mum used to make them every Sunday. It’s time to make them!
Did your Mom make them the same way? What a cool memory!
I’m making something similar, perhabs very similar, but twice as much dough at once. The only thing I do differently is I divide dough into 4 pieces and freeze all of them. Then I grate two for the bottom, spread the jam, and grate remaining two for the top. You will love the texture of the cookies when it’s all been grated! Looks pretty cool too! The reason I divide it into 4 portions is for the dough not to get too soft too early while you work with it.
Love your pictures, amazing job, Natasha!!
That is very creative! Thanks for sharing your method 🙂
My grandmother used to make something like this with cranberry preserves. Nice acid bite. She called it кудрявый пирог – curly cake. Thanks for that memory! Wonder how to adapt it o coconut oil (dairy restrictions) and maybe ww/almond flour combination…
Let me know how those adaptations work out 🙂 cranberry sounds perfect!
My mom used to do tertuy Perog all the time. Ina Garten has a differen version on her website that is also really good.
I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip!!
This recipe looks simple and delicious! Does the amount of flour change if I use Canadian flower?
Hi Olga, I think that would work fine. Sometimes when you are replacing Canadian flour, you need to add a little more American flour, but in this recipe, it doesn’t make a difference.
How interesting! I’ve never thought of grating dough over the top of cookies but it looks delicious. And so fun that the recipe came from a reader too!
I love it when readers write in with their favorites. Those often become my favorites too!
How easy and how tasty!
They really were! 🙂