Quick Kolacky Recipes

BOHEMIAN KOLACHES

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in warm milk; let stand 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, remaining sugar, egg yolks, salt, butter and yeast/milk mixture. Mix until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough. , Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Add additional flour if necessary. Place dough in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down and allow to rise again. Roll out on floured surface to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with large glass or 2-1/2-in. cutter. Place on greased baking sheets; let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. , Firmly press indentation in center and fill each roll with a heaping tablespoon of filling. Brush dough with egg white. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until rolls are light golden brown.

QUICK KOLACKY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, butter or margarine, sugar, sour cream and eggs. Knead until dough is smooth.
• Sprinkle a work surface generously with confectioners' sugar. Roll dough out over the confectioners' sugar to 1/4 inch thick, adding more as needed. Cut out into 3 inch squares and fill with nut, poppyseed or prune filling.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

TEXAS SAUSAGE KOLACHES (KLOBASNEKS)

Steps:

• Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Remove from heat immediately. Stir sugar, salt, and 1/4 cup butter into the milk and stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes.
• Combine warm water and yeast in the large bowl of a stand mixer and stir until dissolved. Stir in cooled milk mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour. Beat using the dough hook attachment until smooth. Add remaining flour, mixing as you go, just until dough is elastic and slightly stiff, but not dry.
• Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and very elastic, 10 to 15 minutes. Coat dough lightly with butter or oil and place in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let sit in a warm place to double in size, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, cut sausages in half and pat dry; this is important. Thinly slice Cheddar cheese block from the short end so that each slice of cheese is about the same length as the halved sausages.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil a baking sheet.
• Turn risen dough out onto a very lightly floured board. Roll into a log, cut into 5 equal pieces, and cut each piece into quarters to make 20 equal-sized pieces of dough. Use the palm of your hand to flatten and press 1 piece into a circle or oval. Place the circle on the board and add 1 piece of Cheddar cheese topped with 1 dry halved sausage. Roll dough around fillings and very tightly pinch all seams together to seal. Smooth seams down and place kolache on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling to make 20 kolaches.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

CREAM CHEESE KOLACKY

Steps:

• Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add flour slowly until well blended. Shape into a ball and chill overnight or for several hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• Roll dough out 1/8 inch thick on a floured pastry board. Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares and place about 1/2 teaspoon jam or preserves in the center. Overlap opposite corners and pinch together. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on wire racks. Sprinkle kolacky lightly with confectioner's sugar.

EASY KOLACKY

Steps:

• Place the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl; beat with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar into the butter mixture. Slowly beat in the flour; mix well. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• On a well floured board, roll out chilled dough to 1/8 inch. Use a pizza wheel to cut dough into 2 1/2 inch squares. Spoon approximately 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each square; do not overfill. Fold opposite corners of each square into the middle to encase dough, pinching dough together in center. Filling should peek out a little at each end. Transfer cookies to an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake the kolacky in the preheated oven until set but not brown, about 12 minutes. Remove to racks to cool. Dust cooled kolacky with remaining powdered sugar.

CHEATER ALMOST KOLACHES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Either mix up a batch of your favorite biscuit dough and cut into 16 pieces or open a can of biscuits (the flaky kind is my favorite) and separate each biscuit into half (this should give you 16 biscuit halves).
• Take the 2 slices of cheese, cut each into 4 strips, and then cut those in half the other direction, giving you 16 short strips.
• Place 1 strip of cheese and 1 sausage onto each biscuit piece and wrap dough around them. Place seam side down on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Brush the tops with melted butter and serve warm.
• You can of course, substitute any of your favorite kolache fillings.

TEXAS KOLACHES

Steps:

• Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat to melt. Do not allow to brown. As soon as the butter has melted, add the milk and stir until blended. Set aside.
• Add the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low until combined.
• Switch out the paddle attachment for the dough hook and add the milk/butter mixture, as well as the egg and the egg yolk. Mix on low for about 1 minute, then, increase the speed to medium (#6 on Kitchenaid stand mixer) and knead for 8 minutes.
• In the meantime, add about 3 cups of water to a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Then, grease a large bowl. You'll also need to arrange your oven racks so that you can fit the saucepan on the floor of the oven with a rack situated above it. Your large bowl will go on top of the rack. The bowl does not need to be oven-safe.
• Once the dough has finished kneading (it will soft and somewhat sticky), use floured hands to form it into a ball and transfer it the greased bowl. Place the saucepan of boiling water on the oven floor and the bowl on the rack above it. Close the oven door and allow the dough to proof for 1 - 1 1/2 hour, until it has doubled in size.
• Remove the bowl from the oven (leave the saucepan in) and punch down the dough. On a floured work surface, divide it into 4 equal pieces, and then divide each of those pieces into quarters. You should have 16 pieces of dough.
• Roll the dough into balls and transfer to 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about 2 to 3 inches apart. Close the oven door and allow to proof for 90 minutes.
• Remove both pans and the saucepan from the oven and preheat it to 350°F.
• Wrap each dough ball around a piece of sausage until it is fully enclosed and pinch to seal any seams.
• Place a piece of cheese in the center of a slice of ham and fold over/wrap the ham to enclose the cheese.
• Wrap each dough ball around the ham until it is fully enclosed and pinch to seal any seams.
• Place seam-side down on the baking sheet and bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden in color. Allow to cool slightly, serve, and enjoy!