Been wanting to make a batch for weeks now, having found my Mother's recipe in her old metal recipe box, one of the very few things I have as a remembrance; the others are her thimbles. Of course, much detail was left for me to figure out, like, what to mix first, add, etc. All I had was ingredients and "roll out on floured board, do not grease pan". And baking time. They rose more than I expected, but look pretty identical overall to the way I remember them. Except for the one big mistake: our fridge had a bunch of those little restaurant-sized jellies, which my wife suggested I use as toppings. They thinned out drastically, but I'm hoping the stuff will thicken. Best would be Solo topping and pie filling. Yum! Frankl
Ahh, you take me back! My mom's side of the family was straight off the boat from Czech and I grew up on all that homemade ethnic food. Really miss it.
I grew up on homemade Hungarian. I also cooked a lot of Hungarian meals since my husband was also Hungarian And loved it. My daughter loved it, my son wouldn't touch it. Now as an adult he loves it and will on occasion cook some Hungarian meals also. My daughter seldom does, lol.
That looks quite good Frank. I think you did them proud! There is a bakery I know of about 45 minutes from here..of course! everything is at least that far, that has them. I have not tried them, but it seems to be an ethnic bakery of sorts, so maybe one of these days I will mosey in and try one. I was at Whole Foods yesterday, while I was killing time waiting for someone. I hadn't been in one in years. I must say they have some pretty good looking cookies and cakes in there, and not over priced! Good job on the Kolacki Frank.
Those look mighty tasty, Frank, good job. By the way, what's solo topping? Once I finish going through some things here, the weather should have cooled off sufficiently that I will start craving baking some of my fall recipes. I'm looking forward to that, and one of the things I'll be going through in the meantime is my old cookbooks and recipes.
I haven't looked at my cookbooks in years! My favorite thing to do was sit at the kitchen table with my cookbooks, a snack and a cigarette. Mmmmmm....good times, lol.
My granddad's side lived around Zilina, Slovakia. That's close to both Czech and Polish borders. Knowing my family, I might be a three in one mix. I love Czech, polish and German cooking. A town within 50 miles of here, called Cedar Rapids, has a section known as Czech village. Last time I was there I OD'd on a Czech beef goulash. It was mostly beef but every few bites I would hit a veggie. And numerous bottles of Czech beer. If I lived closer to C R, I'd probably weigh 800 pounds.
I look at cookbooks frequently, but I don't really make anything out of them most of the time. I just like looking at the food pics. I think that I would like to make a lot of the recipies but most of them take various kinds of ingredients I don't have, and since I am only cooking for myself most of the time, it doesn't seem like making some kind of elaborate recipe is worthwhile. I do think they have some fantastic creations that are avaialble though. I like looking at old cookbooks too. Even if I am just reading them.
@Diane Lane Diane, Solo Co. was originated in Chicago over 100 years ago. Their products were a staple in both of my Grandma's kitchens, when fresh fruit was not available in winter. Here are a few pics from Solo's website: From: http://www.solofoods.com/our-company Almond was the undisputed favorite in our family, and I only learned many years later that they offer many flavors, such as Date, Raspberry, Pineapple, etc. Second commonest for us was "Makova", which is Poppyseed. Living in MO, I ordered a case directly from Solo, priced very reasonably, they allowed mixing flavors, too! Frank
I've noticed that the on-line recipes seem to use the word "Kolache" for all such similar treats. I never learned the language, despite my Mother's attempts to teach me. When I re-create a Czech or Polish word, I try to write it out using English structuring to "sound it out". Czech uses a series of little marks over letters which modify their sound. My Mother talked of a "Hacek", "Krozek", etc. Hacek was a little hook, Krozek a tiny circle. The "R" sound is the toughest. It is commonly "rolled" as an R is in English, but also presents as a "zhi" sound. Anyhow, my Grandma made big Czech fruit pies, not crusted like regular pie, but done in a cake pan, thick raised dough bottom and around the side, filled with fresh fruit, often plums or grapes, topped with a kind of Streusel, lightly sprinkled. That was known as a "Kolach". A big one. Kolacki, like I made, means plural of small ones, called "Kolacek" in singular. Not sure whether "Kolache" might be a spun-off English interpretation. Frank
Another absolute must on Czech tables: Dumplings! "Knedlicky". "kned-leeky". That's the plural. Singular "Knedlik". Outside appearance like the one on right. Others cut up, show texture. These are the typical, unraised type we most often had. Other varieties include raised-dough, light and fluffy. These are cooked in boiling water, not fried. In our house, it was laughingly said the test for "done-ness" was done by removing one from the cookpot, and throwing it forcefully at the wall. If it bounced heartily off, it was done! The "dumps" were made about the size of oranges, one being a typical serving. Cut up into bite-sized pieces, over which was spread sauerkraut, cabbage, or cooked fruit like peaches. Over kraut or cabbage was spread either the gravy drippings from the meat accompaniment, often Roast Pork, or any other gravy. Over fruit, dry cottage cheese was spread, topped with melted butter! Almost always a Sunday meal. Next day, left-over dumps were cut into small pieces, fried on butter to a golden brown along with eggs a'scramblin'! Breakfast for a school-kid! Polish dumplings are generally Pierogi. My first wife made the most delicious Pierogi I've ever tasted. She carefully made up a filling which was proprietary, more or less, as she worked her kitchen alone! I know she used sauerkraut which she cooked in advance, and included several mystery items of meat, I think cut up bacon for one. I believe she boiled them in water, just like the Czechs. These below may either be fried originally, or are being re-heated.
Dumplings! Loved 'em. Yes, the eggs and dumplings, the best. Kuba.......wasn't that barley and mushrooms at Christmas. My grandmother would make apple strudel, only thing I've found close was when I was in Germany. I remember her rolling out these thin pieces of dough on her kitchen table and putting the most wonderful combination of apples, nuts and spices on the dough and ending up with the most wonderful flaky crust....pure heaven.
Ah, I see, so it's basically pie filling @Frank Sanoica? I thought maybe that's what it was, but didn't know if it differed from other pie fillings. Kolaches are popular here. I'd never heard of them until moving down here, despite having some German in my family and growing up around all sorts of cultures. The kolaches down here are usually filled with either meat, cheese or fruit. My favorites are the fruit ones, and the fillings are usually inside them, with the dough folded over the stuffing.