Bacon Pecan Kolaches

Maddi’s Maple Bacon Pecan Kolaches

baconpecankolaches-small

Make the dough, filling and posipka the day before baking.

Overnight Kolache Dough:

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 3 packages of dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 4 cups of flour (more or less)

Heat sour cream until warm. Stir in sugar, salt, and butter. Set aside to cool. Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a bowl and let stand until dissolved then add to sour cream mixture. Add eggs and flour and mix well. Dough does not need to be kneaded. If necessary work in extra flour to make the dough spongy and not sticky. Put dough in a large greased bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Filling:

  • 1 pound bacon, cooked crisp and cut into small pieces
  • 1-1/2 cups pecan halves or pieces
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup + 3 more Tablespoons
  • 3 egg yolks

Bacon can be cooked ahead, chopped and saved for several days.  To make filling, heat oven to 325° F.  Line a shallow baking dish with heavy duty foil. Scatter pecans across foil then scatter the brown sugar over the pecans. Drizzle the maple syrup over the brown sugar and pecans.  Turn and fold to coat pecans with the sugary mixture.  Bake 10 minutes at 325° F. the sugars will bubble up and coat the pecans while they bake.  Stir and bake 7 more minutes.

Remove pan from the oven to a heat-safe working area, like two heavy duty trivets.  Scatter the cooked bacon over the pecans and stir to combine with the coated pecans.

Bake 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and turn off heat. Allow mixture to cook then use a heat-safe spoon or spatula to move the pecans and bacon into a food processor.

Note: A layer of the sugar mixture will remain stuck to the foil. Just throw it away. There will be plenty of sugar stuck to the pecans and bacon.

Pulse process the bacon and pecans a few times to get a texture more like granola than cornmeal.  Now you have about 2-1/2 to 3 cups of a terrific topping that is great for salads, ice cream, or to add to Chex Mix.

To use this topping as a kolache filling, work with one cup of crumbs at a time.

In a small bowl, mix 1 egg yolk with 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup. Add 1 cup of the chopped bacon pecan topping and stir to make sure all the pieces are coated with egg and syrup.  Add slightly less than 1 Tablespoon of filling to each kolache.  Repeat three times to use up all the fillings.  This will just about fill one batch of dough.  You may need to fill the last rolls with jam or other kolache filling.

Posipka: (Poe-SIP-kah) crumb topping

  • 1 cup white, bleached or unbleached flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons butter (no substitutions)

Crumble the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a topping that resembles cornmeal in texture.

On the day of baking and serving

Heat oven to 350° F. Remove dough from the refrigerator. Shape into balls about the size of golf-balls or eggs. Place each roll on a greased cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. Let rise about 30 – 45 minutes; they do not change size very much this time. Make indentations in each roll with first 2 fingers of both hands, creating a shape that looks like a baby swimming pool – flat on the bottom with rimmed sides.

Spoon in slightly less than 1 Tablespoon of filling for each roll. Top with 1 Tablespoon posipka.

Cover with wax paper or cloth and let rise until double in bulk. Bake at 350° F until dough is cooked and golden brown – about 15 minutes.