Kolache

Kolache

     What is a Kolach you might ask? It is a Central European wedding dessert mostly Czech and Slovak that is a small piece of pastry with a tiny dollop of fruit placed and cooked in the center. I am making these little bites in honor of the month of September for my Foodies+ community. For this month we are "cooking a book". By this we mean take your favorite book and cook something from the pages of the story or create a dish that could represent that book.  I am also dedicating this recipe to my dear Aunt Candy who passed away and she used to make these quite a bit for reunions and such. Don't know why she did because we are neither Czech, Slovak, nor central European, but she did. Their delicate and delicious, light and tasty. Anyways, onward with the book idea.

     For this post I chose one of my favorite books by author Shirley Jackson called, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

     A morbid comedy about two hermit sisters who have become recluses in their home with their elderly uncle after the sudden poisoning of their parents and brother years before. The one sister has been accused of murder but was let off. The story discusses their day to day routine of hiding out in their large home on their large grounds. The youngest sister, "Merricat" tells the story from her point of view. A bizarre little girl who dreams of running away to the moon with her cat and sister. She is morbid in her ideas, behaviors, and actions. She practices a sort of magic by burying things around the property for protection against the village people. As the story continues to its end she sets the house on fire in order to protect herself and her sister from the townspeople and a long lost cousin who turns out he just wants the money hidden in the house. You find out that it was Merricat who had poisoned her parents and brother. They end up boarding up and continuing to live in the house that now sort of resembles a castle with turrets as the house no longer has a roof.

     Within the story she discusses all the canned food items in the basement. She tells us that every female in the family would can goods from the gardens all the time to the point that the cellar is stocked piled with everything from vegetables to especially canned fruits and jams. That is where this little dish comes into play. I decided to represent this book by making Kolache. These little pastries are stuffed with some fresh apricot jam. The funny thing is that I actually had trouble making these as some burst opened and broke apart. I think I added too much of a dollop of jam to some of them. Anyways, while photographing these pastries’s my cat jumped on the table to sniff. I thought what a perfect picture just for this post as Merricat had her longtime companion of a cat Jonas. Please enjoy my Kolache.

Ingredients:

• 1 store bought pastry roll
• Apricot jam
• Drinking glass

     Roll out one slice of the pastry crust. Take a normal size glass and start pressing out little circles of dough. The one sheet makes roughly 15-18 little circles. Take a small, I stress small, dollop of apricot jam and place in the middle. Bring up the two sides in the middle, pinch, and press down till it makes a little bow tie looking pastry. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven at 425 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Viola!  A simple and quick little pastry with a fresh bite.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes.

Silly cat