Kolache Tradition

I love my Czech heritage. At least I love what I know about it, the food. So continuing a family holiday tradition I made some kolaches. A kolache is a pastry filled or topped with some sweet fruit filling. (Many Texans and others have taken advantage of the definition to include meat fillings, mistakenly calling them kolaches when they should be pigs-in-a-blanket!)

Since the ingredients were not to difficult to obtain, I decided to make kolaches for the holidays. I prepared the dough in advance and cooled it over night (it cooled on the enclosed balcony which can double as a fridge in the winter). Then the next day was filled (pun intended) with kolache making, dough rising, waiting, and baking.

After all was done, we had 48 kolaches in four flavors, apple, peach, pineapple, and haw. Way too many for a family of 2 to eat! So we shared the great food.

Amazingly people kept coming by our apartment that day and we gave away kolache after kolache. We shared some with Chinese students. But the greatest of all was an American family sharing Czech kolaches in China to a Pakistani family! Amazing!