I saw this recipe on Twitter and I just had to make it:
Here is the full recipe for Cherry and Cream Cheese Kolaches. Definitely watch the video first.
During and shortly after grad school, we lived in Arkansas, Texas, and Georgia before returning to Pennsylvania. In Texas, much to my surprise, there was a kolache festival, begun by Czech immigrants. I was kind of surprised at the fruit fillings and shapes of their kolaches, because around here we call nut rolls kolache. I would have called these fruit-filled rolls Danish. So, I learned something.
Update (original post below):
Once I had the cream cheese and a few jars of preserves to choose from, I remade these kolaches using my jelly roll pan, which is 10″ x 15″. This gave me the pull-apart sides that I saw in the Food & Wine video. Twelve rolls fit just fine in the jelly roll pan, even after rising. Still yummy, however you decide to bake them.
Original post for Dried Cherry Kolaches:
Fruit Filling:
I didn’t have any jam or jelly, nor fresh cherries, but I had a large bag of dried cherries, which I like to keep around to add to venison stew. I found this Martha Stewart recipe for cherry conserve that works out nicely, although it’s a little looser than jam, so be careful about the liquid. I made it the day before making the kolaches.
Cream Cheese Filling:
Next time. I don’t have any cream cheese and my pandemic shopper (husband) won’t be going again until the weekend. I could go without a creamy filling, but decided to use pastry cream, because I do have milk and eggs. Here’s a simple recipe for pastry cream—Allrecipes Pastry Cream. Typically, you don’t bake pastry cream after it is cooked, but I’ve seen recipes that do bake it in a pie crust. Alternatively, I could bake the kolaches with the fruit filling and top with pastry cream after baking. But it worked out well without cracking or drying out.
So, the fillings are the only places I had to make adjustments, but I do plan to make them again with cream cheese and jam. The dough was an excellent dough for handling and shaping, although the recipe does not specify pan size. I used my baking sheet which is a Nordic Ware baking sheet with a rim (13″ x 18″) and the rolls did not rise to touch as the ones in the video. Mine are distinct and separate, which is fine, but I would have loved to have the pull-apart edges. Maybe I should use the jelly roll pan (10″ x 15″) next time.
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