Genuine Kolaches Recipe – Dessert for Two

Genuine Czech kolaches recipe—made with apricot, cream cheese, or prune filling. Small batch, makes 12 small kolaches.

I simply discovered that my dad and mom used to host Thanksgiving breakfast and Thanksgiving dinner. I do know I used to be round for all of it, however I haven’t got any reminiscences of simply what number of kolaches I may shove in my mouth as a child.

The first cause they served two meals on Thanksgiving day is as a result of my grandparents and nice aunt would arrive early to assist with the entire prep work. Since my nice aunt owned a restaurant (I do know I’ve talked about this earlier than), they have been completely happy to present her a much-needed break. There’s one thing candy and significant about feeding somebody who usually spends their day cooking and feeding so many individuals.

What’s a Czech Kolache?

Since my grandparents are Czech, I’ve at all times grown up round genuine Czech kolaches. If you happen to’ve by no means had a kolache (pronounced KOE-lah-cha…do not say ‘koe-lah-CHEE round me, please), it is just like a gentle, egg-y, buttery brioche roll with a fruit filling on high. The commonest flavors are: prune, poppy seed, cream cheese, and apricot. I’ve additionally seen blueberry, cherry, and lemon.

I am prepared to speak about savory kolaches with eggs, bacon and sausage, however actually, I did not develop up on these. Somebody can appropriate me if I am improper, however I believe the savory variations exist solely in kolache retailers. In all of my analysis for Czech recipes, I’ve by no means discovered a recipe written by somebody’s grandmother for sausage or egg-stuffed kolaches. However I may very well be improper. My household is from Moravia within the Czech Republic; possibly different Czechs have savory ones? Let me know if I am improper.

Anyway, I scaled this recipe down from one which my grandmother clipped out of an previous newspaper. I am assuming she used this recipe as a result of it was a smaller batch than most kolache recipes.

The reality is, my grandmother was the unique one to scale down desserts. I inherited a mini 6″ pie dish from her. She would regularly halve cake recipes to bake in smaller pans. She preferred to make a half-batch of cake in an 8×8 pan as a substitute of a 9×13 pan.

I am undecided if it was as a result of she was simply cooking for herself and my grandfather, or if it was a kind of leftover Despair-era traits, the place a whole cake appeared so wasteful, however you need to know that Dessert for Two comes from a really trustworthy place. It is in my blood to make tiny desserts.

I wasn’t aware of my grandmother’s small-batch desserts after I was youthful, however I am very conscious of it now. Daily that I get up and have the unbelievable privilege of cutting down desserts as my precise job, I take into consideration her. All of it simply is smart to me, why I am right here doing what I am doing, you realize? It is a good feeling.

Kolache Recipe elements

• Milk. When baking, entire milk is finest, however 2% is okay. Don’t use something lower than 2%.
• Yeast. We’re utilizing lively dry yeast, the sort that comes within the jar. This recipe was not developed nor examined with some other form of yeast. As soon as the jar of lively dry yeast is open, it must be saved within the fridge.
• Sugar. Granulated white sugar.
• Flour. All-purpose common flour, fluffed and scooped right into a measuring cup leveled off with a knife.
• Butter. We want 6 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter.
• Egg. We solely want 2 egg yolks for this recipe–do not add the egg whites to the dough. Save them for one more recipe.
• Salt.
• For the fillings:
• Prunes. Dried plums (or prunes) for those who’re making the prune filling.
• Honey. That is for making the prune filling. Omit for those who’re not filling with prunes.
• Apricot Preserves. Technically, any sort of preserves will work in these kolaches. Don’t use jam, as it would boil and burn within the oven. Use a thick protect that incorporates items of entire fruit for the most effective outcomes.
• Cream Cheese. If you happen to’re making the cream cheese crammed model, you want softened cream cheese.
• Powdered Sugar. That is for sweetening the cream cheese filling.

Learn how to make Kolaches

Anyway, DOUGH. Let’s discuss kolaches. The most effective description of the dough is like challah…however richer! Kolache dough has a great deal of butter, eggs and milk. It is fairly frickin’ superb stuff.

If you’re kneading the dough (simply 10 minutes, I promise), the dough is supple and enjoyable to work with.

Actually, I made this whole recipe in 90 minutes. I used the ‘proof’ setting on my oven, and each rises occurred in roughly Half-hour.

Which brings me to an important level: lots of people suppose Czech kolaches wants at the very least 3 rises to be ‘genuine.’ This recipe has 3 rises, technically, since I activate the yeast with a portion of the flour. I’ve come throughout recipes with 5 rises, and effectively, that sounds nice, however this recipe is fairly dang genuine. So, save your self the time.

1. First: make the three completely different fillings. If you need the entire kolaches to have the identical taste, triple one of many filling recipes. As written, this recipe makes 12 kolaches with 3 completely different fillings: 4 cream cheese kolaches, 4 prune kolaches, and 4 apricot protect kolaches. For the prune filling: mix the prunes in a small saucepan with the honey, and add sufficient water to barely cowl the prunes. Boil, stirring sometimes, for about 10 minutes. Mash them with a fork as they prepare dinner. They’re completed when a lot of the water is evaporated and it is thicker than jam. Put aside to chill. For the apricot filling: no work needed! Simply have the apricot preserves prepared in a small bowl. Whisk it effectively to interrupt it up a bit. For the cream cheese filling: stir collectively the room temp cream cheese with the powdered sugar till clean. Put aside.
2. Subsequent, make the kolaches: heat the milk in a microwave-safe bowl for about 30 seconds till lukewarm. The goal temperature is 110 levels. As soon as it is at exactly 110, add the yeast, sugar and ⅔ cup of the flour. Combine collectively effectively and let rise in a heat place till doubled in dimension. For me, I place it in an oven on ‘PROOF’ and it doubles in about 20-Half-hour.
3. After the primary rise, we’ll enrich the dough: In one other bowl, add the melted butter. Let cool briefly earlier than stirring within the egg yolk. Add this to the yeast combination and blend effectively. Add the remaining flour, salt, and blend very effectively.
4. Subsequent, knead the enriched dough for 10 minutes: The easiest way to knead is to smear the dough away from you with the heel of your hand, after which fold the dough again onto itself from the facet along with your different hand. Evenly flour the board and your palms as you go. On the finish of 10 minutes, the dough will probably be gentle, supple, and never sticky in any respect.
5. Second rise: Grease a bowl with cooking spray and add the dough. Cowl and let it rise in a heat place till it doubles in dimension (you are able to do this within the oven utilizing the ‘proof’ setting). (On the finish of this rise, you could possibly cowl it and put it within the fridge to make use of the next day. It is going to deflate a bit, but it surely’s okay). Within the oven, this second rise takes Half-hour on ‘PROOF’ to double in dimension for me.
6. Subsequent, you wish to evenly divide the dough into 12 equal parts. I do that by weighing the dough, and dividing it by 12. Roll every dough ball into an ideal circle (see picture).
7. Line a 9″ pie plate with parchment paper, and prepare the dough balls in it. At this level, I press gently on the dough to make a barely rectangular form as a substitute of an ideal circle (see picture).
8. Let the dough rise till doubled (you are able to do this within the oven utilizing the ‘proof’ setting).
9. Lastly, preheat the oven to 375. As soon as the dough balls have doubled in dimension, use your fingers to make indentations for the fillings. Go deeper than the indentations seen within the photographs (the dough continued to rise whereas I used to be taking photographs, making the indentations fill in barely).
10. Subsequent, stir collectively the egg and splash of heavy cream to make use of because the egg wash for the rolls.
11. Divide the jam fillings between the kolaches, after which brush with the egg wash gently (attempt to not get egg wash on the fillings).
12. Bake the kolaches for 18-21 minutes, till properly golden brown. Use a toothpick inserted into the middle kolache to make sure the rolls are completed. (Within the testing course of for this recipe, I by accident under-baked a batch and the kolaches sunk within the center, so ensure that the internal kolaches are absolutely baked earlier than eradicating from the oven).
13. Let cool barely, after which tear aside and serve.

Kolaches Recipe Suggestions and Variations

I prefer to make a pan of those and alternate flavors (4 of every: cream cheese, prune, and apricot), however be at liberty to triple one filling recipe to make a whole pan of 1 taste.

To make the prune filling, I cooked dried prunes and honey till they have been gentle and mashable. For the apricot, I used a jar of very thick preserves. You do not wish to use jelly or skinny jam for kolaches as a result of they have an inclination to boil within the oven. Cooked dried fruit or very thick preserves are the most effective issues to make use of.

My favourite kolache is prune (however poppy seed is a detailed second). If you happen to’re a kolache virgin, you are going to wish to begin with the cream cheese–trust me on this.

I posted a photograph of those infants on instagram, and instantly, somebody requested concerning the posipka (a really superb crumbly little combination of flour, butter and sugar that is sprinkled on high of kolaches earlier than baking). Admittedly, I like posipka, however I left it off for the sake of simplicity. I did not wish to soiled one other bowl. However to the one that referred to as me out on posipka, you are an incredible human, and you actually know your kolaches! Bravo!

What to serve with this Czech Kolache Recipe

Kolaches are a breakfast meal all on their very own. Serve with tea or espresso and a few recent fruit.

Learn how to retailer Do-it-yourself Kolaches

Can Do-it-yourself Kolaches be frozen?

You possibly can freeze already baked kolaches in freezer-safe luggage. To defrost, let sit within the fridge in a single day. Then, place within the microwave for 10-15 seconds till heat all through.

Learn how to reheat a Czech Kolache

The easiest way to reheat a kolache is within the microwave for 10-15 seconds. The microwave supplies moist warmth that can make the dough fluffy once more. The oven or air fryer will dry out the kolaches–use the microwave!

Okay, I am sharing my recipe for Czech kolaches beneath. The recipe makes 12 small kolaches in a daily 9″ pie plate. The recipe may be very simply halved, if 12 kolaches is simply an excessive amount of for you–I completely get it. If you happen to minimize the recipe in half, bake the rolls in a 6″ pie dish as a substitute.

Pleased baking! Errrr, I ought to in all probability say šťastné pečení!

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