Kolace

Total Time: 4 hrs 8 mins Preparation Time: 4 hrs Cook Time: 8 mins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups whole milk, scalded
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup crisco cooking oil
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 ounces fresh yeast
• 7 -8 cups flour
• melted shortening, for brushing dough balls
• melted butter, for brushing baked kolace

Recipe

• 1 scald milk and set aside to cool until lukewarm.
• 2 remove 1/2 cup of the cooled scalded milk to a small bowl, add 1 teaspoon of the sugar and stir in yeast. let work for about 10 minutes.
• 3 while yeast is working, beat the eggs, add sugar, then cream, oil, salt and the rest of the scalded milk.
• 4 in large bowl have ready 6 1/2 cups flour. make a well in the flour and add the dissolved yeast. stir and then add in the beaten ingredients.
• 5 beat until smooth.
• 6 add 1/4 cup of flour at a time until you have a slightly sticky dough.
• 7 beat well with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes.
• 8 let dough rest 10 minutes and then stir well with wooden spoon again.
• 9 cover with a tea towel and let rise about 1 hour, until doubled in bulk.
• 10 stir down and cut off tablespoon size balls.
• 11 shape into balls and place on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
• 12 brush with melted shortening.
• 13 let rise until doubled.
• 14 make a depression in the middle of the ball with your thumb, and press outward to form an opening for the filling about the size of a 50 cent piece, pressing the bottom paper thin without tearing the dough.
• 15 add a teaspoon of filling to each kolace and smooth out to edge of opening. i use solo brand poppy seed filling for most as that is our favorite and cherry pie filling for the rest.
• 16 let the filled kolace rise 15-20 minutes or they will look like a volcano erupting when baked.
• 17 bake at 425 for 8 minutes until lightly browned.
• 18 remove from pan with a spatula as you would cookies and cool on wire rack. brush kolace with melted butter as soon as removed from oven to keep the dough soft.
• 19 these freeze well once they are cooled--if they last that long.