Kolache (Koláče)
Here is a recipe for koláče, typical Slovak (and Czech and Moravian) sweet treats. Here in the US, this word, or at least it’s English version, kolache has come to mean the nut and poppy seed rolls. But this is not quite right. The word koláč (the singular form) is a generic term for anything sweet and baked – sort of like cake in English. The nut and poppy rolls are called orechovník and makovník. But even the modern Slovak meaning is not right. In the past, koláče (the plural form) referred to circular breads with sweet filling in the middle. This history is still retained in the name itself. The word koláč shares a root with kolo and koleso, both meaning a wheel. And of course, these terms surely derive from an even more ancient language (Greek perhaps?).
These old traditional circular baked goodies are popular at fairs (jarmoky). My hometown of Banská Bystrica is famous for a huge fair, Radvanský jarmok. This ancient fair is said to be the king of fairs. And for a good reason. It has been held in September for now over 340 years! It all started back in 1655 when then a village of Radvaň held its first market. Much has changed since then, the village has merged into the city to become one of its “suburbs”: Radvaň is now one of the two main residential parts (called sídlisko, the other is Sásová in the north end). The fair has also migrated to the center of town and is now held in conjunction with “Banská Bystrica Days“. But it is still a great place to find unique crafts and sample various culinary delicacies. In that article, in the second picture from the top, you can see another popular offering at Slovak fairs: gingerbread hearts. These are always lavishly decorated and sometimes even contain a mirror baked into the dough. Such hearts were given by boys to their loved ones, and in the past, mirrors were not as common as they are now so they were highly prized. That is at least the explanation I was given…
Ingredients: sweet leavened dough, your favorite toppings (plum jam, poppy seeds, walnuts, and farmer’s cheese are traditional)
Poppy seed / walnut filling: ground poppy seeds/walnuts, powdered sugar, milk
Tvaroh filling: farmer’s cheese, powdered sugar, raisins, egg
Prep time: 1 hour, plus few hours to the dough rise
Start by preparing the sweet leavened dough (click on the link for the recipe). While the dough is rising, prepare your favorite filling. Check out the poppy seed roll recipe for the poppy and walnut filling, and the tvaroh cake recipe for the farmer’s cheese filling. I also used plum jam (slivkový lekvár), which I found in a Russian grocery store under “plum butter”. You will also find steps for preparing these same fillings in the Christmas Eve cake recipe.
Once the dough is ready, transfer it onto a dusted board and roll out to about 4mm thick.
Then take a tall drinking glass and dust the rim with flour. Turn the glass upside down and use a twisting motion to cut out a circle. Then turn it the right side up and use the flat base to press out the edges. Or use a tablespoon, your fingers, or even a fancy kolache press. Spoon your favorite topping into the dimple.
Transfer the filled kolache onto a greased baking sheet. Brush the edges with egg yolk. Let rise while you preheat your oven the 400F. Bake for about 15 minutes until the edges turn light brown color. The poppy seed koláč went into the oven solo: my baking pan was filled with a nut roll, buchty and tvarožník. There was simply no room for it!
And that’s it, homemade koláče. Enjoy!
And for a slightly different version, checkout Alena’s recipe.
looks delicious! Great idea with those glasses 🙂
Have done my fair share of kolache demos with my mother for NCSML & various organizations. Love seeing this website and associated links. Learned new techniques/variations to try next time I make these. Your site Rocks – keep up the amazing work!
It’s always interesting when you post these things, because I find so many differences in the way we call things, or even make them.
To me, these are “ceske kolace”, or Czech kolache. Perhaps coming from Bratislava, you have had more Czech influence.
I hope you don’t mind me pointing out these little things, but I think it just gives a more complete picture, since my point of view is that of Eastern Slovakian customs, and a bit influenced perhaps by Hungarian cuisine as well.
Dg,
I don’t think there is much difference between Czech and Slovak cuisines. At least, there wasn’t between the foods my family prepared and the foods I have tried in the Czech Republic during my visits. Turns out, my family has some Czech roots – my great-grandmother was Czech and was actually Jaroslav Hašek’s secretary! It’s quite a funny story how I found out. Few years back I was in Irkutsk, Russia as part of a month-long trans-siberian journey. While there, we stumbled upon a pub called U Švejka (At Shvejk’s). I was definitely surprised to find a pub with such a typical Czech name in the middle of Russian Siberia! Well, turns out that Jaroslav Hašek lived in that building and that’s also where he supposedly came up with the idea for his Good Soldier Švejk (according to a sign in the pub, I had no idea). When I mentioned this to my dad, he told me, well you know that your great grandma was his secretary, and went with him to Russia, and that’s where she met her husband (a Slovak)? So it’s quite possible that my great grandma lived in that house that I totally randomly stumbled upon.
But going back to food. One of my aunts and also my grandma’s sister live in the Czech Republic. I travel there (Prague) quite often, and have not yet found much difference between the Czech and Slovak cuisines (some dumplings are made bit differently but that’s about it). What about you, what do you think is the difference between the two cuisines?
Oh, I don’t think there is a huge difference in the two cuisines, I just find it interesting how sometimes for example you describe a food combination as the most natural thing in the world, while for me it was not like that at all. Maybe the kolace is not the best example of this. But you have posted many recipes that I am grateful for, because they look exactly the same as we had them. Well, that is, my Mom made them, and I am glad to have them from you now, because she passed away suddenly and I had no time to get those cooking lessons from her. 🙂 So thank you – I think your site is lovely, keep up the good work! 🙂
my grandmother was slovak..loved her homemade cooking
dg,
What part of Eastern Slovakia are you associated with?
Lubos,
Thank you again for all you do with helping keep the Czech/Slovak food alive!!
My grandmother always may the roll kolache in poppy seed and nut. My great aunts made some with apriot filling. I can’t wait to try your recipe.
My grandmother would bake either apricot or prune colaches…
Definitely have to try your version. Here is the Czechmate Diary version by the way:
http://czechmatediary.com/2007/05/18/kolache-recipe/
Thank you so much for your website! I have been searching for recipes, especially this one for years. My grandmother passed away before she could share many of these recipes with me and I have been wanting to make some of the wonderful foods that she used to make.
Thank you to Slovak Cooking. As a 3rd generation American/Slovak, I baked koláče, makovník, and orechovník today for the first time. Not as good as grandmother’s but very good in deed. In Tacoma, Washington.
Ďakujeme, že ste na slovenskú varenie. Ako tretej generácie Američan, slovenské, Pekla som koláče, makovník, a orechovník dnes prvýkrát. Nie tak dobrý ako od babičky, ale skutočne veľmi dobré. V Tacoma, Washington.
My “Gavlik” relatives always rolled out the dough thin. Then they would spread the nut or apricot filling on the dough. It would then get rolled up and baked. You would end up with a long loaf that you would slice into bite sized portions. Get the dough wrong or add too much filling and you would get a rupture in the roll that would cause the filling to burn. Another holiday treat although probaly not Slovak in origin would use the same filling and a different dough in a small muffin pan to make tea tassies(?)
My grandmother brought us long rolls of kolach, wrapped in white cloths. Back in the sixties, she would take the bus to DC and we kids would count how many long rolls we saw peeping out of her bags as she got off the bus! They were filled with sugar, melted butter, and raisins. Once she came in the house and unloaded her goodies, they were topped with powdered sugar and sliced!
Does anyone have any good rohlik recipes?
Roger, like this? http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/recipes/bread-rolls/
Yes, thank you! I will give these a try. The recipes I’ve tried so far have resulted in a bit “tougher” or heavier dough. I haven’t been able to match the lightness of the rohliky from the Sykora bakery in Cedar Rapids or the ones from the Tyndall bakery in Tyndall, SD. I also miss the parek from those local meat markets for a “parek v rohliku”
I was able to find some New York Style Deli hot dogs in my local grocery chain (Giant) that taste and look just like Slovak párky. I don’t have a picture of the packaging, but here is what they looked like when cooked: http://www.slovakcooking.com/2011/recipes/kettle-goulash/ (bottom of the page). I’ll let you know if I find the brand name.
I also have to say, with my roots in eastern Slovakia, our version of the kolač is also the nut or poppyseed roll…a sweet dough rolled out thinly, spread with filling, nut , poppyseed, apricot, etc., then rolled up and baked. I§ve noticed in areas in the US that are Czech rather than Slovak eg Prague, OK, your style is seen, in Ohio and Pennsylvania it is definitely the rolls and many Slovaks from Spiš and Zemplin settled here
Loretta,
I believe you are correct. I am just finding out that my great grandmother came from eastern Slovakia and my mom and aunts are always making nut or poppy seed rolls. I am still in the process of finding my roots and learning the food!
Lubos, do you know of local bakeries (I live not too far from you) that carry makovnik? I will try making my own & more, thanks to your wonderful recipies. 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe!
I’m a 3rd generation Slovak/Russian American and my mother always baked both this type of kolache & the nut/poppy seed rolled version for Christmas when I was a kid! Now living a few states over, I have a yearning to make her cookies myself but don’t have a copy of her recipe. Even my husband begs for these cookies and he’s from German decent! 😉 Thanks for helping me keep in touch with my roots!
I like to read all the different comments.I notice everyone keeps making the same mistake.The small fruit topped pastry are actual kolačky,and not kolačhe.If you go to a good czech bakery you will see a pastry about 10 inches in diameter,filled with usually apricot,prune,cheese,and poppyseed.These are called kolache.At the right time of year you can get,plum kolačhe.There is another real good kolačky,and that is the moravian style.These have two fillings.
did any of you used to watch your grandmother make homemade noodles?? and i was wondering if anyone knows the receipe for Bilkiy..spelling?? made with poppyseed and lilttle round bread balls..my grandmother made them for Christmas
The poppyseed and little round bread balls 😉 seem to be called many things: my mom (Zemplinska) called them fučky, my dad’s family (Spiššak) called them bobalky and I’ve seen other names, too. Mom would take leftover kolace dough and cut it into small pieces and roll them into little balls. Dip them quickly in boiling water or steam them a little, then mix in honey and poppyseed. That was our recipe! I know there are some on this site too.
(Oh, and I too always saw the small round pastry with fruit in the middle as Czech and the long rolls as Slovak or at least eastern Slovak!)
thank you Loretta..yes bobalky is what my grandma called it
does anyone know or remember the thin wafers dipped in honey that was used at Christmas?? what is the name of that? i Rememeber my grandmother who is Slovak had that tradition..thank you
Linda, these are called oblátky. You will see few photos in the recent Christmas post. They come either flat or rolled into tubes.
Hi Linda, yes oplatky shared on Christmas Eve table for supper with honey. My grandparents immigrated to USA from far Eastern Slovakia near Hummene. Usually you can obtain the Oplatky wafers few weeks befor Christmas in a
Catholic Church. Hope this helps you!
and Statsny Novi Rok! (Happy New Year!)
thank you..this helps alot
They were called Oplatki. My Slovak Grandma always had them for the big family gathering on Christmas Eve, and we kids loved them!
we say the same, but oplátky and flat rectangles imprinted with Christmas scenes
yes, the problem is that back home my parents had that “Iron thing” to make oplátky and imprint them with Christmas scenes.
That’s a thing hard to get in the US thus just a pure recipe, a similar to making a pancakes must do
my aunt used to buy Pasties (spelling?) when i was a child..made with meat, potatoes, etc in a pastry crust.has anyone ever heard of these or know how to make them?? Also..my grandma made the best perogies homemade.. would love the reciepe for those also..thank you
Yes, corinsh pasties – the best food in UK. Recipe above.
ok, the recipe is not above, more like below.
Linda, go to Google, type “pasties recipies” in a search, and you will get what you are asking for. There are many, I have no preference as I don’t make them, but they are there for asking!
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7776/cornish-pasties
Love your website. I have three daughters that I would love to pass some of my Czech heritage too, but my family members that used to make these recipes have passed away before passing them down. I am originally from South Dakota and have found the Tyndall bakery as well! My husband introduced it to me. Have to get something there every visit back home. I am planning on making a traditional Czech/Slovak Easter meal for my father as a surprise. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Liz,
I don’t know how “traditional” this is, but this was the usual fare for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas (and on other occasions when our family gathered) when I was growing up in the south central South Dakota area:
Dumplings were a once and sometimes twice a week part of meals in addition to holidays (potato dumplings were usually made by my Aunt Rose for Christmas and sometimes when we got together to bale and stack hay),
Cooked cabbage with chopped bacon and caraway in a sweet-sour sauce, or cooked sauerkraut,
Ham usually for Easter,
Wild roast duck or goose was more typical for Thanksgiving and Christmas,
We butchered and processed our own pork, beef and poultry each year, so roast or canned pork or beef were a pretty common part of everyday meals. My Mom was pretty good at making Jiternice as well,
Vegetables and Fruit Salads,
Caraway rye bread,
Rohliks and Houska (also called Bohemian Braided Bread for Christmas),
Kolaches or some other dessert.
A menu of this type to me is what I consider to be Czech and Slovak soul food.
Dobre Chut!
As we are heading to Easter days, my recollection and still trying to do it “old ways”
for the Easter:
potato salad, ham, eggs in any ways prepared, aka “devils eggs” some smoked sausage cuts, some cookies, later on some lamb meat with boiled potatoes… not much cabbage on Easter it’s for the winter time not Easter.
That’s what I remember and still doing it that way
I am eager to try your kolache recipe!
Hi,
I am so glad I found this site. I lived in Bratislava for 6 years. I love Slovakia and slovak people.
Does anyone has a recipe for slovak palacinky?.
Thank you
The March 2012 issue of Texas Monthly has an interesting article on the Czech version:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2012-03-01/feature3.php
or just go to the Texas Monthly homepage archives.
My Grandmother used to make rohliky. I have not tasted anything like them. They are bite size and wonderful. The dough is very, very light. She would cut the dough into squares, place the filling inside and foldl them over in the shape of a crescent. She then sprinkled powdered sugar on top. The dough is much lighter than kolache dough I have eaten I live in an area where we are one of the few Slovak families. My Grandmother and grandfather came to Chicago form the old country. For a long time there were no Slovaks we knew that the word. They always told me I was talking abot Kolache. I am confused. Are they from Slovakia?
Hi Anna, rohlíky is actually Czech, in Slovak it would “rožky”. These typically mean small baguettes (I even tried to make them, but they didn’t turn out as well as back home though). However, there definitely are many kinds of sweet rohlíky, such as these poppy-seed ones submitted by a reader in Slovakia.
My grandma made kolache’s in the shape of a diamond, she would put the filling down the center and fold over the left and right corners in the middle. Fillings were lekvar, pineapple, nut, and apricot. She would make nut roll and poppyseed roll also. I have never had apple strudel better than my grndma’s. She would mix up the dough and pull it by hand. It was so thin and flaky we always wondered how it held up. She also made crusczky (sp) or as she called them, boushie mielasty? I have no idea how to spell that but it means love knot. I can remember being at grandma’s house when she would be on the rotary phone talking to her slovak lady friends of course in slovak and being kids, we’d try to imitate what we heard and laugh at the unique sound of the language. I wish I knew how to speak it but there isn’t a lot of call for it here in the US and would have a hard time remember what I learned for lack of use. The slovaks are a very hard working people and I can remember the huge garden that my grandma’s brothers had. I know that they also knew how to make some sort of “moonshine” from kale because I have vintage photos taken of them during harvest time. They are great photos and I love to make arrangements of different family photos on my kitchen wall. People don’t realize that those are my ancestors until I point out how much the little girl on the horse, (my great grandma), looks just like me or I like her. I love being Slovak and know that I got my work ethic and taste for natural slovak soul food from the way I was raised. My grandma also made the best mock chicken legs with veal and pork, that you ever wanted to eat, and cabbage and noodles, houspanena, and stuffed peppers. She was the cook at the church during the Friday fish fry where she made homemade sweet sour cole slaw, cabbage and noodles and mashed potatoes and gravy and rye bread. If you left our church fish fry hungry, it was your own fault.I loved waiting tables at the fish fry at the age of 11 and made really great tips because everyone knew I was Mary’s granddaughter. Serving my grandma’s homemade fish fry made me very proud. Long live Slovakia!!!
Wow, this sounds like my story. My grandmother was Mary and came to the US from Bratislava when she was in her early 20’s. She had 5 children (born at home, my mother being the youngest and is now the only survivor at 94. She’s amazing and lives alone. My grandmother never learned to speek English but was a fabulous Slovak cook. She never wrote down a recipe, so I learned from my mother who cooked from memory also. When we went to visit grandma, she greeted us with a huge pile of kolache, poppy seed, apricot, prune and walnut. They were the best. She also made the best chicken paprikash along with so many other dishes including cabbage & noodles which I don’t know how to spell but sounds like sheeflikee. I have carried on the tradition and make all of the above and now am teaching my grandaughter who is only 8 but loves to cook. My mother always talked about the fruit dumplings but never made them as she didn’t have the recipe so I was so happy to find this website. I’d like to surprise her and make them for her. I have so many wonderful stories and memories of my grandmother. I would visit her for a week in the summer when I was young with my cousin. The only way we communicated was thru food and I always had to go on a diet when I returned home. I remember her huge kitchen, woodburning stove, and the sight of her rolling out dough for homemade noodles for the best chicken soup every day. I could go on and on, but I will close and say I’m proud to be a Slovak!!
My grandmother (slovak), use to make these cherry pastries that were flaky and so good. My mom still makes the nut/apricot rolls, but does not have this receipe. I think they were like little turnovers, but may have been just folded over toward the center. I have been looking for these, anyone have any ideas?
I grew up around Youngstown, Oh where many immigrants lived because the Mills employed thousands of hard workers. We were Irish and Swedish but my mother loved to cook and learned from many friends to make to old dishes. The ‘foldovers’ are called kiffel. Some call them Mini Kolaches and are delicious. I joined a site called Recipes of Youngstown and they have files with well over a thousand home cooked dishes from the our Grandmothers and Mothers. They also sell two cookbooks with these recipes. I’m not sure if you have to be from Youngstown but you could take a look. I’ve found many old, authentic recipes there.
Seeing these recipes makes me nostalgic. I live in California where there are very few Slovaks but was born in Detroit, my father in Pennsylvania but grandparents all from Slovakia in the 1900’s. Grandma Churilla (nee: Rerko) was one of the best cooks—loved those galumpki, halushky and kolache. It was a lot of work but her 12 children and my cousins looked forward to Christmas for it! I helped an aunt once cracking walnuts for the kolache. They are all gone now but one cousin did learn to make them. Grandma Benyo (mom’s side) could make a great green bean soup (mervenitsa)zaprashka, and homemade noodles. Sure miss those traditions at Christmas time.
It is so fun to read everyone’s comments. They evoked bittersweet memories of my now passed mother, industrious and energetic, baking and cooking everything Slovak.
The First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association (in Ohio) has published “The Anniversary Slovak-American Cook Book” since 1892. My copy from a 1952 printing was published by Tylka Bro. Press in Chicago. Google them and get the book!
If you live in Michigan and crave a kolache, visit the Kolache Kitchen in Owosso, MI. The area has a large Slovak population. The bakery is open Thurs.-Saturday only. I’ve had many of their kolache cookies. They are delicious. I order them with apricot, strawberry and poppy seed filling and take them to family gatherings around the holidays. Love them! Reminds me of my aunt Anne, who cooked and baked many Slovak favorites when I was a kid. Really miss her and her wonderful cooking.
My grandmother and mother made these but with cooked apricots sprinkled with coconut. My grandmother was of Bohemian decent. Her parents came to the USA in the early 1880’s.
My grandmother and Aunt Anne made Kolachki (as we spelled it) in the form of loaves, with the walnut/sugar or poppyseeds rolled up in the middle. When the loaves were sliced, you could see the spiral of filling in the slice.
Even when my family was stationed overseas during the Vietnam war we could count on a box of kolachki being delivered before Christmas. It is one of my favorite memories.
That’s how it was for my family, too! The loaves! And we would do a walnut mix, or prune, apricot, or poppyseed, and we never made it with cheese, but I know some people did. And we always made it around Christmas time! I’m trying to revive the tradition again, and want to incorporate other recipes I’ve found on here, as well.
Lubos, here in Texas we have a Czech town, West, where I’ve had these sweet kolache, wonderful. However, most donut shops down here sell kolache that are sealed around sausage or cheese & sausage. A version of pig-in-a-blacket if you will. So to most Texans kolache means a savory, sausage-filled, cylindrical, pastry, unless you’re in central TX near the Czech community. Interesting discussion. Thanks!
Hello! I was wondering if anyone had heard of a Czech dish called “pupacky? (spelling?). My mother’s side of the family is Czech and we eat this food every Christmas Eve. It is like hard biscuits, soaked in milk with poppyseed and sugar on them. I wanted to know the correct spelling and if others enjoy this food.
merry christmas, mary! The dish you had described I know as “pupáky”. my dad eats this dish, only one time a year, at the end of christmas dinner. it is bread like dough shaped into small balls and baked, then mixed with small amount of warm milk to soften up, ground poppy seeds, sugar and drizzled with melted butter.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES. My grandmother and aunts in Detroit, MI were all fabulous cooks and bakers and made all the heavenly pastries mentioned in all the posts. I once did the baking as well but not any more. We had a Slovak bakery here in Hayward, CA but unfortunately went out of business.
Does anyone have a recipe for the kolacky with the corners pinched together? My grandmother used to make them with cheese, prune and apricot fillings.
Thank you
Mamabear,
what you are looking for are probably not koláče but “Taštičky z lístkového cesta”.
If you google that term, you will find many recipes.
Or generic “Taštičky” or Tašky”
I am looking for a recipe, my grandmother used to make these rolls, it was a type off bread then filled with dates or poppy seed, they were oblong, and deep fried and then rolled in sugar? She called them kolache, but when i search for that it is not quite the same.
Used above recipe ..followed instructions….only I used 4cups flour instead of 8 cups…. came out perfect…?? Very nice dough…