Kolaches (sweet Czech pastries)

 

The other day I went to our local library in search of some  good cooking books that have pictures.  I really hate to make a recipe when I don't know what it's suppose to look like.  I was in search of some good Italian Cookbooks and found 2 but also found a copy of America's Best Lost Recipes (editors of Cooks Country Magazine).  Woo Hooo.  Well anyway I saw these in there and just had to try them.  All I can say is OMG are they good.  Light and just downright yummy.  I took 4 over to my sister-in-law (she lives next door) and she called me later to tell me how good they were and that she ate all of them.  LOL  The recipe in the book is not correct, they don't have enough flour listed and in the list of ingredients they forgot to mention the vanilla, until you turn the page for hand instructions on kneading the dough. They also mention honey but I didn't add that.  May try it next time though, maybe 2 TBL or so.   Hmmmm makes you wonder who proof read the recipes.  Since I make yeast doughs several times a week I knew the dough was not right so I just kept adding flour until it looked and felt right.  The other things I changed was I used preserves and marmalade for the fillings.  I used a bit of cream cream before I added the fruit fillings.  I made raspberry preserve, blueberry preserve (I brought home from my last trip to Maine)  and orange marmalade.  The raspberry got running as you can see.  But was still yummy.  I added some more after they came out of the oven.

The other thing I will change the next time I make these is their size.  They say to use a 2" cutter,  I thought they came out a bit on the small size but you get 18-20 at that size so I guess if you were making them for a party that would be a good size.  Now for just downright good eating they need to be a bit bigger...don't ya agree?

 Printable

Bake 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes

Dough

1/2 Cup warm milk (110 degrees)

3 TBL sugar

2 TBL unsaled butter, melted

1 large egg yoke, beaten

3 cups of flour

1 tsp rapid rise or instant yeast

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2  tsp vanilla

Cream cheese filling:

4 oz of softened cream cheese

2 TBL sugar

Cream the two with a wisk

To make the dough, grease a large bowl with cooking spray, set aside.  Mix the milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg yoke together in a large measuring cup.  Stir the flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.  With the mixer on low, add the milk mixture.  After the dough comes together, mix until shiny and smooth, about 5-7 minutes.  Turn the dough out onto a heavy floured surface and shape into a ball.  Place in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.  Spray 2 nine (9) inch cake pans with cooking spray.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut with 2" round cutter or larger and arrange in the pans with 2 in the center and 8 around the perimeter of each pan.  Cover with plastic and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.  

 

When ready to bake make an indentation with your finger and put the cream cheese and then the preserves.  About 1 tsp each.  Bake until golden brown. 15-20 minutes

 Hope you try these.  There are several other recipes I will try from this book and will share with you in the upcoming weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend, thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by.  Remember to find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU love.

Donna