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Cream Cheese Filled Kolaches
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Cream Cheese Filled Kolaches

Czech style kolaches with cream cheese filling.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Keyword Cream Cheese Filling, kolaches
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 50 minutes
Servings 16
Author Anna
Cost 5

Ingredients

Dough

  • 1 cup milk (230-240 grams)
  • 5 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for brushing (74 grams)
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 ½ to 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour (315 to 380 grams)**
  • 1 teaspoon salt, scant
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons SAF instant yeast (you can use Platinum or another)

Crumb Topping

  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar 65 grams
  • 2 ½ tablespoons flour 20 grams
  • ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 4 teaspoons melted butter 18 grams

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened (230 grams)
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • ¼ cup sugar (50 grams)
  • Pinch of lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  • Put the milk in a microwave-safe measuring cup or small saucepan and heat just until it starts to boil. Let it cool down to 130 degrees F.
  • While milk is cooling, put the 5 ½ tablespoons of butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a spoon. Stir in the egg yolk, 2 cups (250 grams) of the flour, salt and yeast. Mixture will be crumbly and dry. Add the milk and stir until thoroughly mixed. From this point, add remaining cup of flour by quarter cups, stirring with a big spoon or scraper, until you have a soft dough that is neither too sticky nor too dry – though it should be more sticky than dry because kneading will remove some stickiness.
  • Put the bowl on the mixer stand and knead with the dough hook until it is smooth and elastic.
  • Rub an empty mixing bowl with butter, put the dough in it, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
  • Punch dough down and turn out onto lightly floured surface. Pinch off 16 equal size portions and shape into little balls or blobs. Place 8 balls on each of two parchment lined baking sheets.
  • Cover loosely with a greased sheet of plastic wrap and let rise for an hour.
  • While rising, mix together ingredients for the topping and filling.
  • Make an indentation in each risen ball and fill with a tablespoon of cream cheese filling. Brush gently with butter and sprinkle the topping over the bun and filling.
  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and let the buns sit while the oven preheats.
  • Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes at 400F.
  • These are good warm or at room temperature. I like the fruit filled ones warm, but prefer to let the cheese version cool down.

Notes

** In the end I used about 360 grams of flour, but it’s best to go by texture and feel of the dough, so start with 2 cups and mix in the remaining flour in gradually. Dough will be slightly sticky before kneading, but should become smooth and elastic after kneading. I mixed my dough with a spoon, but I did use the dough hook of a stand mixer for kneading. If you like the process of kneading by hand, you can make this whole recipe with just a bowl and a spoon.