How to Make Kolache

Kolache flavors, clockwise from top left – chocolate peanut butter, prune. applesauce, and cherry

Kolache, kolace, kolach, or kolacky -

no matter how you spell it,just about everyone enjoys these tasty treats.  There are many different shapes, sizes and fillings.  From  rounds to folded pockets, hand sized to pie-sized, sweet to savory, your imagination seems to be the limit.  Most sources seem to agree that the name “kolache” (however you spell it) comes from the Czech word for “cookie”.  As for the origin of kolache, no one is really certain, but this story from the Polish Art Center is sweet:

The origin of the kolache is uncertain. One version goes like this: “A mother, busy with her weekly baking, broke off a few pieces of dough to keep her little daughter occupied. The little cook kneaded her dough into flat cakes. She selected several plums from a bowl on the table and placed the fruit into the center of the round piece of dough. Her cake went into the oven along with Mother’s bread. The father, coming in from a long day in the fields, picked up the cake cooling on the table and took a bite. The hot juice of the plum spurted into his mouth, causing him to hop around on one foot around the table. The little girl shouted with glee saying, ‘Tatinek (father).. kolac’. And that’s how kolache got its name. Soon the fame of the kolache spread throughout the Czech-Austro-Hungarian empire and on to the New World.”

My recipe is from my mother’s mother, Mary, was of Czech heritage.  When my mother was a young girl, she left school after the eighth grade (not uncommon in those days) to start working.  Her first job was to do the weekly baking for a neighbor with a large family and a new baby.  Back then, all the farm families did baking once a week, and that baking usually involved kolache, at least in the area around Hauge, Wisconsin where mom grew up.  She was pretty nervous on her first day, but she finished the kolache and waited for the husband to try them when she was done.  He took his first bite, got a bit of a questioning look on his face, picked up the salt shaker and sprinkled a bit of salt on the pastry and ate the rest.  “Not too bad”, he said.  (Yes, mom had forgotten the salt in the dough.)

Since then, my mom probably baked several thousand kolache (and put the salt in most of the time).  We always had kolache for the holidays, and fairly often during the rest of the year when there were more of us at home.  (I’m the youngest of six kids.)  We used to make them sometimes for the catering business, too.

Now I generally only bake them for the holidays, as I have cut back on our sweets, but I still want to make sure this family tradition gets passed on to the next generation.  I was fortunate to have my niece and nephew visit with their spouses (and toddler) this weekend.  We had a nice visit, and they pitched it to help make “kolache just like grandma used to make”.

Kolache Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups warm milk
2 packages dry yeast  (4 1/2 teaspoons) or 3 1/2 teaspoons SAF-INSTANT yeast
1 ½ tsp salt

½ cup sugar
2 beaten eggs

¾ cup lard or poultry fat, melted, plus extra for coating dough
5 to 6 cups flour

Directions

Using a large bowl (you can do this in a KitchenAid mixer or Bosch universal mixer with a dough hook, or by hand), dissolve yeast and milk. Add sugar and salt, let set until bubbles form (about 10 minutes).   This is called “proofing” the yeast, and is required for the dry yeast but not for the instant yeast, although I often do it anyway with recipes like this.  It helps to activate the yeast, warming it nicely so you get alight, fluffy dough.

With wooden spoon add lard or poultry fat, eggs and 1 cup flour.   Using lard or poultry fat (my mom preferred duck fat, when available) or other saturated fat will result in a more tender dough and better shelf life.

Add rest of flour slowly, beating after each addition, to form a soft dough.  Mom always used to scold me because I’d make the dough too stiff.  You want it to be a bit sticky.

Cover with towel. Let raise in a warm place until double in size.  I often tuck mine on the back of the stove, or you can place it on top of the fridge, or even set it in a bowl of warm water.  Just don’t leave it alone too long on a warm day, like the one time we came home from church and found kolache dough all the top of the stove and oozing down the front of the stove.  That was a real mess to clean up!

Punch down dough and cut into golf ball sized pieces. Grease your hands before working with the dough, as it will be sticky.  Palm roll the dough into balls.  Here’s a shot of my nephew and I rolling out the dough.  I like to cut the mass of dough apart with my kitchen chopper/scraper.

Place balls on well greased pan or pan lined with parchment paper or reusable parchment paper and brush balls with melted oil. Let raise until dough is light (double height).   Preheat oven to 375F.

Press centers with fingers to form a depression, then fill depression with fruit fillings. Use pie fillings such as: blueberry, peach, apple, raspberry, prune, applesauce, poppy seed, lemon and apricot. You can use commercially prepared fillings, but most of the time I make my own.  (See filling recipes below.)  you want to fill them about level, not too full or they will run all over.

My nephew filling kolache

Close up of kolache – see how the centers are pressed in?

Bake at 375F until light golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.  Do not overbake!  Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.  Makes around six dozen.

Filling recipes for Kolache

Fresh or Frozen Fruit Filling:

1 qt fresh or frozen fruit such as raspberries, cherries, peaches, etc
4 tbsp cornstarch
1 ¼ cup sugar
Pinch of salt

In a small bowl, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt together.  Combine all ingredients in top of double boiler, cook until thick stirring often. Cool until thick. If cooking in regular pan be careful not to scorch your fruit.  Be sure to premix your sugar and cornstarch, or your likely to get lumps.

Dry Fruit Filling

Prune, peach, or apricot Filling: Cook 2 lbs, of dry fruit in enough water to cover until tender. Drain and pit if necessary. Then blend ½ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and/or ¼ teaspoon cinnamon.

Applesauce Filling

Use 1/4 cup tapioca granules for every four cups of applesauce.  Add cinnamon and sweetener to taste.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Filling

This one may need a little work, or be eaten with a large glass of milk.  My niece’s husband mixed together roughly equal parts of Enjoy Life Chocolate chunks and peanut butter and spooned the mix into several kolache.  Not too bad, but a little sweet for my taste.

Fresh baked kolache

It looks like we have a new kolache fan in the family.

Daddy Tim shares his kolache with baby Brit

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and I wish you many wonderful days of sharing holiday traditions with your loved ones.  if you’ve enjoyed this post, please pass it along or leave a comment.  Share your holiday traditions – or your family’s version of kolache.