YIELDS: 3-4 DOZEN Pineapple-FILLED KOLACHES

Make the dough, pineapple 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
• 4-5 cups of flour

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.

Pineapple Filling

• 24 oz dried pineapple (about 4 cups)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 Tablespoons butter (no substitutions)

To make pineapple filling, place water and dried fruit in a medium saucepan and cook on high for 10 minutes.  Keep cooking on high for 8 more minutes, adding more water 1/4 cup at a time if needed to prevent sticking and burning.  Reduce heat 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 mix for 2 minutes in a food processor or with a hand mixer.

Posipka (Poe-SIP-kah) crumb topping

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

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 small eggs.

Place each roll on a greased cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. For the lightest, fluffiest roll, I use only Wilton 11 x 15 x 2-inch metal cake pans.  But kolaches baked in a pan with 2-inch sides will not brown on the top.  If you like a roll that is brown on top, use a flat cookie sheet or a sheet-cake pan (15 x 10 inch pan with .5-inch sides).

Cover lightly with wax paper, plastic wrap or an inverted pan or lid the same size that does not touch the dough. Let rise about 30 minutes in a corner or other flat surface free of drafts; the rolls will not change size very much.

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 lightly again and let rest another 30 minutes.

 

Bake at 350° F until dough is cooked and beginning to brown on bottom – about 15-18 minutes.