o You Make Texas Cream Cheese Kolaches?
These involve a few rises so they take some patience, but don’t be intimidated. It’s a yeasted dough, but a forgiving one!
The first step is to mix your yeast with some warm water and sugar to make sure it’s still active. I like to do this and just let it sit while I start to mix the other ingredients. By the time I come back to it, it should be nice and bubbly. If your’s isn’t, that’s usually an indicator that your yeast is dead.
Grease a big bowl with butter or oil, then place the kneaded dough ball in it, cover the bowl and leave it in a warm spot for about an hour. It should about double in size during that time, but again, this dough is pretty forgiving if it hasn’t and you need to move on.
Punch the dough down to de-gas it a bit and then roll it into a log shape. Cut it into 12 equal-ish rounds and then roll each one into a ball. Grease a 9×13-inch pan and place the balls in it lined up in rows of three and brush the tops with some melted butter. You guessed it: more rising. Let it rest for 30 minutes this time; this helps to relax the dough before you make some indents.
Go ahead and make the filling by beating together the cream cheese, sugar, an egg yolk, and some vanilla. Using the bottom of a quarter cup measuring cup, press down on each dough ball to create a well. Spoon some of the filling into each well, about a tablespoon or so. Brush the sides with some melted butter and then it’s time for the topping, or posypka.
A posypka is a little finer than a streusel but the same general idea. Stir together some sugar, cinnamon, and flour and then cut in butter until you have fine crumbs. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of the mixture over each kolache. And then… one final rise!
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