Cranberry Kolaches

cranberrykolaches_2901Make the dough, posipka, and filling the night 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, plus 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 cup warm water – 110-120° F (measure with baker’s thermometer)
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 4-5 cups of flour

Heat sour cream in microwave oven on high for 2 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup sugar plus the salt and butter. Set aside to cool.

Sprinkle yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar over warm water in a bowl and let stand until yeast gets “puffy” – this is called “proofing” your yeast.

Add eggs to 4 cups of flour and mix well, using hands, mixer, or sturdy spatula. This dough does not need to be kneaded.

Add proofed yeast to sour cream mixture, then pour the warm liquids into the egg dough.

Combine thoroughly, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup more flour to make the dough “spongy” instead of “sticky.”

Grease a large bowl with shortening or Pam and turn the spongy dough mass into the bowl. Spray with Pam, cover and refrigerate overnight. It doesn’t look very pretty, and that is okay.

Posipka 

Make Posipka (Poe-SIP-kah) crumb topping the day or week before baking kolaches and refrigerate.

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

Using a pastry blender or your fingers, crumble the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a topping that resembles cornmeal in texture. Refrigerate until you are ready to bake the kolaches.

Cranberry Filling

  • 12-16 oz dried cranberries (2 cups)
  • 2 cups water, or possibly a little more
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 Tablespoons butter (no substitutions)

To make cranberry filling, place 2 cups water and dried fruit in a medium saucepan and cook on high for 10 minutes. Cook on high 8 more minutes, adding more water 1/4 cup at a time if needed to prevent sticking and burning.  Reduce head to medium high and cook up to 10 more minutes if fruit is really hard. Resulting fruit should be soft enough to mash into a paste with a hand mixer.  Dump in sugar and butter and blend in a food processor or with a hand mixer for 2 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use.

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 small 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 30 more minutes.

Bake at 350° F until dough is cooked and golden brown on bottom – about 15-17 minutes.