Kolaches

I am half Czech and there are a few recipes that my Grandma has shared with me that are some of my Grandpa’s favorite things that he grew up with. I remember being 6 or 7 and cooking in the kitchen with Grandma and would make buns, cinnamon rolls, cookies, but my favorite was the kolaches. We would bake all day and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a warm kolache with a blueberry filling.

A kolache is a traditional Czech pastry that is made with a semi sweet yeast dough and contains fruit or cream cheese fillings. Since I am allergic to cream cheese I am all about the fruit flavors. Grandma usually makes apricot, blueberry, lemon and cherry. Now, these are not exactly healthy but I only have them a few times a year!

I stopped at my Grandparents on the way back from Manitowoc and went home with a plate of kolaches, a 5 gallon bucket of cookies (She does make some of the best cookies in the world) and fresh fresh my grandpa had caught ice fishing that morning. I may not have that much in common with them but I truly appreciate how they eat, lots of fish, items made from scratch and the occasional baked good. They are both over 80 so something is working!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1 cup shorening

2 cups warm milk

2 pkg. active dray yeast (dissolved in 1/2 c.  very warm water water with 1 tbsp sugar added)

6 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp salt

Various fruit fillings

Directions

Dissolve sugar and shortening in warm milk, let cool. Add 3 cups flour to the mixture to make a soft batter.

Add yeast, eggs, salt and enough flour to make dough easy to handle. Knead and let rise for about 20 minutes.

Shape into balls about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter on a cookie sheet. Let these rise with a towel placed over the cookie sheet another 20 minutes.

Press down the centers and fill with fruit filling. Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.

Try to let cool before you dig in!

I came across this shirt when I was searching for the best way to describe a kolache. I think I need this shirt!