Almost halfway between Austin and Dallas, Texas is a hamlet called West, which was settled by Czech immigrants. Their descendants continue to make one of the tastiest pastries ever—the kolache. This sweet, soft, filled pastry is always an excellent excuse to stop the car, stretch your legs, and chow down.
Everyone loves kolaches, and while you can find them all over the state, for some reason they just taste better in West. Perhaps it’s the water, perhaps it’s the history, perhaps it’s the competition among all those Czech bakeries serving their interpretation of the same treat—but most will agree that if you want the best kolaches, you must travel to West.
The kolache comes from a large family. I’d say it’s a distant relative to many pastries, such as a Danish, klobasnek, or even hamantaschen (the two seem to favor the same fillings), but there’s just something about that roll, a certain flavor that makes it unique.
This kolaches recipe is about as close to that little town in Texas as you can get. For me, it’s a taste of road trips, wildflowers in bloom, and a hint of warmer days on the horizon. And if you’re looking for a sweet escape, perhaps you will enjoy them, too.
This recipe was excerpted from ‘The Homesick Texan Cookbook’ by Lisa Fain. Buy the full book on Amazon.
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What you’ll need
Active Dry Yeast
$6 At Amazon
Dried Apricots
$16 At Amazon
Sheet Pan
$28 At Amazon
Blender
$140 At Amazon
Ingredients
For the pastry
For the crumble topping (known as posypka)
For the dried fruit filling
For the cream cheese filling
Preparation
Step 1
In a large bowl, combine yeast, warm milk, sugar, and 1 cup of the flour. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 20 minutes.
Step 2
Melt 8 tablespoons unsalted butter. Beat the butter together with the eggs and salt. Add eggs to flour mixture and blend. Slowly add the remaining 2 cups of the flour. The dough should be soft and moist. Knead dough for about 10 minutes on a floured surface. Put dough in a greased bowl and let rise covered until it’s doubled in size—about an hour.
Step 3
After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide into 12 even-sized pieces. In your hands, roll the pieces into balls and then flatten to about 3 inches in diameter. Place flattened pieces on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise again for another half hour.
Step 4
Meanwhile, make the fillings (see following) and mix together the flour, sugar, butter, and cinnamon for the posypka topping.
Step 5
After second rising, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. With your finger gently make an indention in the center of each dough ball (be careful not to flatten it too much) and fill with 1 tablespoon of filling and sprinkle with posypka. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. While baking, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons unsalted butter. Brush with melted butter when you take the kolaches out of the oven and serve warm.
To make the dried fruit filling
Step 6
Cover the dried fruit with water for 1 hour to rehydrate.
Step 7
When the fruit is rehydrated, cook on low for 15 minutes, adding sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Place in the blender and puree.
To make the cream cheese filling
Step 8
Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until fluffy. Add the flour, egg yolk, and lemon zest.
Recipe notes
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