I’ve been dreaming about making these Raspberry Cream Cheese Kolaches for the last few months, and am so glad I finally found some time this morning to make them happen. I made them with an enriched, yeasted sweet dough and filled them with a slightly sweet cream cheese filling, swirled with raspberry preserves. They are so light and airy – not as rich or heavy as a traditional danish or pastry.
What are Kolache?
Kolaches are a traditional Czech pastry, brought to Texas in the 1800s by Czech immigrants. The word kolache comes from the Czech word, kola, which means “wheels” or “rounds”. They can have sweet or savory fillings. Let me show you how I made them…
I started off by making my favorite enriched, yeasted sweet dough. This is the same dough I use for my cinnamon rolls and cinnamon twist bread. The dough needs to be covered so it can rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size. At this point, you can refrigerate the dough for up to 12 hours, or overnight.
When you are ready to make the kolaches, punch the dough down, and pour it out onto a well-floured surface. Roll it out until it is 1/2 inch thick, and then cut rounds (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter). Place the dough rounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and then cover and allow to rise a second time for 45 minutes.
When the dough rounds are puffy, use the bottom of a glass or measuring cup to press a deep well into the center. My boys loved helping with this part! Fill the wells with a mixture of cream cheese, egg, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Swirl in a teaspoon or two of your favorite raspberry preserves.
Brush the dough with an egg wash, and they’ll have a beautiful golden sheen after baking. Allow them to cool slightly and then dust with powdered sugar.
These Raspberry Cream Cheese Kolaches are buttery, soft, sweet, and irresistible! I’m not even going to tell you how quickly we all devoured them. They would be wonderful to bake up on Christmas morning, especially since the dough and filling can be made the night before. I will be making these again very soon!
Please leave me a comment if you’ve made a variation of kolaches I need to know about! The possibilities are endless, and it’s so fun to hear about the traditions behind the recipes.
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Raspberry Cream Cheese Kolaches
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 14 minutes
- Yield: 18 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Czechoslovakian
Description
These Raspberry Cream Cheese Kolaches are buttery, soft, sweet, and irresistible! Perfect for Christmas morning!
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 1 cup warm whole milk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (divided)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
For the Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup raspberry preserves
- additional powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
For the Dough
- Pour yeast into a large bowl, and add warm water. The temperature should be like a baby’s bathwater. Allow it to sit (active yeast will become foamy) for 3-5 minutes.
- Add warm whole milk, granulated sugar, and beaten egg. Stir together with a dough whisk, or rubber spatula.
- Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and stir until incorporated.
- Add salt and butter, stir again.
- Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour gradually. The dough should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl, but still sticky to the touch.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Once the dough has risen, it may be refrigerated (keep well covered) for up to 12 hours or overnight.
- When you are ready to make the kolaches, pour the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Roll the dough out 1/2 inch thick, and cut 2 1/2 inch circles out of the dough. Re-roll excess dough, and cut again. I got about 18 rounds from this recipe. Place them on parchment lined baking sheets. Cover and let them rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.
For the Filling
- In the meantime, make the cream cheese filling. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to whisk the cream cheese, egg, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside.
- When the dough rounds have risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Use the bottom of a glass or measuring cup to press a deep well into the center of each dough round.
- Fill each well with about two tablespoons of cream cheese filling. Swirl 1-2 teaspoons of raspberry preserves into the filling of each well.
- For a golden sheen, brush the outer rim of the dough with an egg wash (1 egg beaten + 1 teaspoon water) before baking.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 11-14 minutes, or until light golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack, and then dust with powdered sugar.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Kolache
- Calories: 221
- Sugar: 12g
- Sodium: 146mg
- Fat: 9.4g
- Saturated Fat: 5.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3.1g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 30g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 4.3g
- Cholesterol: 45mg
Lori says
I made these today. Eaten warm this is one of the best things I have put in my mouth. Thank you for this recipe.
Val says
These are amazing! My whole family makes them now, and we do so regularly:). Thank you so much!
Leslie says
I have used this dough for many things like cinnamon rolls and sweet bread. It’s absolutely amazing. I love it because it’s very versatile. It’s a great dough. Experiment with it and have fun!!!!! This is my all time favorite sweet dough recipe.
Gayle Morrison says
The best yeast dough I’ve ever made. Very easy to make and sooooo delicious. So much better than the ones made with crescent rolls. Try these you won’t regret it. Thanks for the great recipe!!!!!
Andrea says
I need to try these! My family makes kolaches for Christmas every year but we make apricot, prune and poppy seed! These sound so yummy!
Nanamagic says
Can these be frozen and if so at what point. Want to bake and ship.
Ewa says
This recipe is a keeper. I baked them today for the first time. And they came out perfect. My grandkids loved them. Great treat for a ski trip with hot chocolate. Thank you.
Maeve says
This are sooo good. Light and airy. Whatever you call them, from whatever nationality they can’t be beat. My husband is Hungarian and he loved them. They call nut and poppyseed rolls KOLACHE, I don’t care what they’re called but you need to make them. I used QUICK yeast and used my bread machine and shortened the rise times.