A Kolacky-Kolaczki-Kolache By Any Other Name

[SheilaAnn]

As y’all know, I am of Polish-Lithuanian descent from the SW side of Chicago. My grandma would always have these yummy cookies on hand. Either baked them herself or from her favorite bakery (name escapes me).

This is what I grew up on.



The crust is almost like a pie crust. Actually, it is rolled out as such, cut, filled and shaped. My favorite fillings are cheese, apple or apricot.

https://polishhousewife.com/kolaczki/

I have also learned this. From the looks of these, the dough is more croissant like and flaky.

https://foodperestroika.com/2022/01/23/kolacky-the-real-kolaches-from-czech-republic/

Which leads us to this franchise. Which, IMHO, seems to celebrate more filled dough items (in addition to traditional pastry items) both sweet and savory. Which is where that crazy @ss jalapeño thing came from 🤣🤣🤣 (I play… #respect) and sent me down this rabbit hole of research.

https://kolachefactory.com/menu/all

[klflowers]

Man I love these things. I am not much of a baker so I never tried to make them. And I never tried to find them online cause I knew I would go overboard. Now I see this. I don't know whether to thank you or use your name in vain...

[Purc]

My DIL has family in the city of West, Texas home the famous Czech Stop. I have stopped there during my trips to the Texas Meat Ups in San Marcos. Her family also brings these goodies to us when they visit DFW.

Czech Stop

CZECH STOP AND LITTLE CZECH BAKERY, West - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

I have found that a number of local bakeries where I now live. carry versions of these treats.

[jecucolo]

I’ve been there many times! I love poppyseed kolaches.

[rmeugene]

I grew up on the same "style" you grew up on...my MIL still makes them once in a while. They do NOT last long in our house. Brings back so many memories. Those and Nalesniki's...

[GolfGeezer]

Related dish I grew up with as part of my Jewish heritage are knishs. The word "knish" comes from the Yiddish word knysh or the Polish word knysz, which both mean "cake" or "dumpling". Most of the ones served were stuffed fruit jam. For some reason, my mother liked them stuffed with prunes - ugh.

[GolfGeezer]

Yes, most of the sweet ones were in hamentoshen, similar and usually reserved for holidays like Purim.

[Draznnl]

My grandmother usually made potato filled knishes. I too don’t remember sweet ones. Hamentoshen were a different thing, always sweet, smaller, and triangular as opposed to the round knish.

[SheilaAnn]

I’ve never had a knish…..

[Murdy]

My Grandmother was born in Brno shortly after WWI and came to the U.S. a few years later. She would make the Czech-style kolachke (she pronounced it with a K beginning the final syllable). More frequently, however, she'd make a kolach, which was made from the same dough, but spread out into a flat sheet, covered with some sort of fruit spread (usually prune or appricot, but also poppy seed), and rolled like a very heavy strudel (this was a heavy, thick dough). I have the recipe for the dough somewhere, but have never attempted it. As I recall, she'd also refer to it as a yeast dough. Somewhere along the way, I was told that adding the "ke" sound at the end was a diminutive, i.e., little kolach, referring to the individual pastry rather than the strudel-like coffee cake.

Her kolach looked more like this:

https://www.bakesandblunders.com/kolache-a-slovakian-walnut-roll/

[Smoked Transistors]

Watched this on DDD, the young lady in the video is too funny.

[GolfGeezer]

😂😂