Blueberry Kolaches are made from a sweetened yeast dough and filled with a simple, fresh blueberry filling and a streusel topping. They are as tasty as they are pretty.
Kolaches are a sweet Czech breakfast pastry typically stuffed with cream cheese or fruit.
You don’t see kolaches much in these parts (South Carolina) but apparently they are very popular in Texas which is where The Pastry Queen, Rebecca Rather, has her bakery. This recipe is adapted from her recipe for Peach Kolaches in The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe
. I love this cookbook more and more with every recipe I try.
The dough gets made a day in advance and does its first rise in the refrigerator. All that’s left the next morning is the second rise.
But first the dough is divided into balls and a depression is made in the middle to hold the filling.
These sweet little buns can be filled with fruit or cream cheese. You could use peaches, strawberries, or pineapple. You can even go nontraditional and fill them with bacon or sausage, egg, and cheese.
But Blueberries are so beautiful. I couldn’t resist using them. I’m quite smitten with blueberries.
This Blueberry Kolaches recipe makes a huge tray of kolaches, but you won’t have trouble finding people to eat them. 🙂
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Blueberry Kolaches
Ingredients
dough
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water,, 110-115 degrees
- 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup butter, (1 stick)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Blueberry Filling
- 3 cups fresh blueberries
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Streusel Topping
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Place milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until it begins to steam and form a skin on top. Do not boil. Cool 10 to 15 minutes or until it is between 110 and 115 degrees.
- Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and let sit for 5 minutes. (Try and time this so it will be ready at the same time the milk reaches the correct temperature.)
- Melt butter in microwave and cool 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, salt, and melted butter.
- Whisk in cooled milk and yeast mixture.
- Add flour 2 cups at a time, stirring in with a wooden spoon. Do not work the dough too much. Once the flour is mixed in, transfer the dough to a large bowl coated with vegetable oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
- Punch dough down, cover with plastic wrap again and refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight.
- After refrigerating, grease a 12x17-inch baking sheet with butter or cooking spray.
- Make filling. Combine all filling ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until some of the blueberries burst and the filling thickens some, about 5 minutes. Let cool some.
- Lightly oil your hands and shape dough into approximately 2 1/2-inch balls. You should have 20 balls. Place balls on baking sheet, spacing 4 across and 5 down. Using your fingers, make a dent in the middle of each ball for the filling. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling in each one.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap that has been coated with cooking spray. Let rise until almost doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a small bowl combine butter, flour, and sugar for streusel. Use your fingers to mix the butter in well. Sprinkle on top of kolaches and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally published August 6, 2015.
Recipe adapted from: The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe
More Blueberry Recipes
Lightened Up Blueberry Coffee Cake
Blueberry Granola Crunch Pancakes
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Took a little time and effort but well worth it!
Love kolache and blueberry are my favorite so are peach
My grandfather was from Czech so got to taste a lot of treats including langos
Thank you for your recipe. My dough is very sticky and gets all over my fingers. I’ve doubled the recipe. I’ve put in bowl in fridge. Can I add more flour to make balls before rising again?
Yes, if the dough is too sticky, it needs more flour. The amount of flour can really be influenced by the humidity in the air.