This Kolaches Recipe brings traditional sweet pastries right to your kitchen with tender dough and creamy quark filling. Nothing beats biting into a warm kolach fresh from the oven with its tender bread, rich filling, and crunchy streusel topping!
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🍞 Kolaches strike the perfect balance between Old World tradition and modern comfort, making them ideal for both special celebrations and family gatherings!
My 2 Best Tips For Making This Kolaches Recipe
Filling Preparation: Make sure your quark is at room temperature before mixing with the egg yolk and powdered sugar for easier blending. If your plum jam is too thick, thin it with just a teaspoon of rum or hot water to make it easier to spread.
Shaping Technique: When wrapping the dough around the filling, I gather the edges like a drawstring purse and pinch tightly to seal perfectly. Then I place seam-side down on the baking sheet to prevent the filling from leaking during baking.
I changed the method of making the dough to take advantage of my stand mixer. A quick tip is to add the flour gradually, not all at once. If you add all the flour at the beginning, you’ll end up with a dough that’s too dry.
Quark is a soft cheese, a little bit like cream cheese. I decided instead of buying quark at the store, which can be hard to find and expensive in my area, I would make my own. Making it at home is super easy and inexpensive.
The quark recipe I used is on Splendid Table. I used a fabulous Italian Plum Jam from Amour Spreads that I picked up at the Salt Lake Farmers Market.
This Czech kolaches recipe creates tender sweet pastries filled with creamy quark and topped with buttery streusel crumbs. You can enjoy them warm for breakfast with your morning coffee or serve them as an elegant dessert for special gatherings!
🩷 Melissa
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Homemade Kolaches Recipe – Czech Kolaches
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ¾ cup confectioner’s sugar
- 2 packets (4 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast)
- pinch salt
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 cups quark
- 1 egg yolk
- powdered sugar to taste
- ⅔ cup plum jam
- rum or hot water to soften jam if too thick
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- dash cinnamon
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 1 egg
Instructions
Make the Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine 1 ½ cups flour, whole wheat pastry flour, powdered sugar, yeast, and salt.
- In a saucepan or microwave safe dish, heat milk and butter until warm (120°–130°F). Add to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened.
- Mix in egg yolks. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
- Switch to the dough hook, and, on low speed, gradually add the remaining flour, adding more as necessary until dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides, but not the bottom.
- Knead 8 minutes, until smooth but still slightly sticky. Shape into a ball. Place in greased bowl, turn. Cover and let rise until double, about 60 minutes.
Prepare Quark Filling
- Mix together quark, egg yolk and powdered sugar. If necessary, thin plum jam.
Prepare Streusel Topping
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Mix in melted butter with a fork until crumbs form. Set aside.
Finish Kolaches
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- When the dough is risen, divide it into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, and then roll into a circle.
- Fill each circle with quark filling. Wrap it into a “purse” shape.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put each kolach onto a prepared baking sheet with seam down.
- Press each kolach in the middle. Brush it with egg wash and fill holes with plum filling. Sprinkle it with streusel topping.
- Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.
Notes
- Store freshly baked kolaches in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Wrap individual kolaches tightly in plastic wrap, then place in freezer bags for up to 3 months of frozen storage.
Nutrition
How To Make Czech Kolaches
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients in a stand mixer, then add the warm milk and butter mixture followed by egg yolks. Knead with the dough hook for 8 minutes until smooth and slightly sticky, then let rise in a greased bowl for 60 minutes.
Step 2: Mix the quark with egg yolk and powdered sugar until smooth for the creamy filling. Create the streusel topping by combining flour, sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter until crumbs form.
Step 3: Divide the risen dough into 12 pieces and roll each into a circle, then fill with quark mixture and wrap into a purse shape. Place seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press down the center of each kolach.
Step 4: Brush each kolach with beaten egg and fill the center indentations with plum jam. Sprinkle generously with streusel topping and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes until golden brown.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use farmer’s cheese, ricotta, or even cream cheese mixed with powdered sugar as alternatives to quark. Just adjust the sweetness level to taste and ensure the consistency isn’t too wet.
You can substitute the whole wheat pastry flour with an equal amount of all-purpose flour, though the kolaches will have a slightly different texture. The whole wheat adds a subtle nutty flavor and tender crumb.
Check that your yeast is still active by proofing it in warm water with a pinch of sugar before using. Also ensure your kitchen isn’t too cold – yeast dough rises best in a warm, draft-free environment around 75-80°F.
More Sweet Rolls Recipes to Consider
Did you try this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ rating below and share it on Instagram.
Sherri
How much of the quark filling goes in each bun?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Sherri – if you look at the picture collage you can see how it should look – about 2 tablespoons.
Nagi@RecipeTinEats
This recipe looks amazing! I can tell that it’s delicious and that it will added to my favorites! I love making some worthy pastry! 🙂
Thuy
These look simply delicious! How long do you think these could keep? I would like to bake some as Christmas gifts, but the idea of baking all night before Christmas seems exhausting.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Thuy! They freeze very well if you have the freezer space, just make them a week or two ahead of time and thaw them overnight.
Becky
what a great recipe Barbara!! I just made ricotta cheese for the first time, but I’ll have to try quark sometime! And have you ever read about the Moravians – they are fascinating to learn about. We’ll have to go out for a treat soon and I’ll tell you all about your pastry’s namesake 🙂 Miss you!
Mari
What is quark???
Barbara Schieving
Quark is a soft cheese, a little bit like cream cheese.
Lucie
Thank you Barbara for baked with me last month. I admire that you made your own quark – I’ve never tried it. It so cheap in Czech Republic so I always buy it.
Joanne
Thank you Barbara. Going to make these today. But you can’t really fig jam in my area. So I’m going to use a different flavor. Hope they look as good as yours.
Jaonne
Hi Barbara. For the filling, I’m a bit confused. Do you put the cream in the center, and the close like a roll? I see you spread it out. How do you close it then?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Jaonne – you just gather the edges up like a little pouch enclosing the filling, then pinch the edges together.
Brenda @ a farmgirl's dabbles
These are so beautiful, Barbara. Lovely photos and recipe!
Lisa@Cluttercafe
These look gorgeous! I can’t wait to try them!
Sunita
Your Kolaches look yum. Great that you made the quark at home. It is on my to-do list.
Lana@NeverEnoughThyme
How beautiful, Barbara! Kolaches are one of the few cookies I’ve never made so I’m saving this recipe for my Christmas baking. Thanks so much for sharing.