These extra-soft kolaches have a little secret ingredient: pudding mix. It sounds odd if you haven't baked with it before, but it's the reason these kolaches bake up so big, fluffy, and tender. They're just the kind of soft bakery-style kolache you want when you're filling them with something sweet like fruit preserves, pie filling, or my personal favorite, a cream cheese filling.
This recipe came to me years ago from a reader name Wendy. Over time I've made a few small adjustments, mostly to account for modern pudding mix box sizes, but the spirit of the recipe hasn't changed.
About the Pudding Mix
You'll need a 3-ounce box of vanilla cook-and-serve pudding, prepared with 1½ cups of milk. That's less liquid than you'd normally use for pudding, so don't be alarmed when it looks thick, glossy, and a little gloppy at first. That concentrated pudding is exactly what gives the dough its softness and keeps the kolaches tender even after they cool.
Making and Kneading the Dough
The dough itself is very straightforward. I always use my stand mixer with the dough hook because it keeps things tidy and prevents me from adding too much flour. You can knead by hand if you prefer, but that's where it's easy to overdo the flour. This is meant to be a soft, slightly tacky dough, Adding too much flour will take away from that pillowy texture you want in a kolache.
The recipe calls for active dry yeast, which is what I've consistently used. I'm sure instant yeast (like SAF) would work beautifully and shave a little time off the process, but since active dry has been so reliable here, I've stuck with it.
Shape and Size
Here are a few photos from my last batch. You can make 16 really big kolaches or 32 small ones or go somewhere in between. I think the ideal size for these is smaller, because the dough itself is not very sweet and cutting them small gives you a good balance of filling to dough.
I was playing with sizing here, but I like to shape the dough by making a big rectangle and cutting the rectangle into smaller piece. In the past I'd shape into balls and press down, but the squared off pieces look more like what I remember from Texas.
Fillings and Toppings
For the filling, I use my usual lightly sweetened cream cheese mixture, but fruit fillings work just as well. Anything you'd put in a Danish or sweet roll is fair game here. I also like to add a simple crumb topping. It adds a little texture and just enough sweetness to balance the soft bread and creamy center.
Using Other Flavors of Pudding Mix
...is on my bucket list. Weird bucket list, I know. But it would be fun to try these with butterscotch flavored pudding mix or whatever other flavors of pudding mix come in the cook & serve variety. I thought about trying with instant pudding, but with instant pudding has different ingredients and there's a chance of gumminess. So I recommend sticking with cook and serve pudding mix at least for the first round.
Storing and Freezing Kolaches
These freeze beautifully. To freeze, just let cool and wrap tightly. Put the wrapped kolaches in freezer bags. To serve, thaw overnight or in the microwave, then warm very gently in the toaster.
Recipe
Pudding Mix Kolaches
Ingredients
- 1 package cook and serve vanilla pudding mix (3 oz)
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 2 packets yeast (4 ½ teaspoons)
- ½ cup warm water
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt, scant (see notes)
- 4-5 cups all-purpose flour (500 grams)
Crumb Topping
- ¼ cup sugar (50 grams)
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (25 grams)
- Tiny pinch of salt
- 4 teaspoons cold butter (18 grams)
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened (228 grams)
- ¼ cup sugar (50 grams)
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon more or less of lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon more or less vanilla
Instructions
- Combine pudding mix and 1 ½ cups of milk in a saucepan. Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until pudding mixture thickens. Turn off heat and add butter. Let the butter melt with the pudding.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, proof the yeast in ½ cup of water.
- Scrape pudding mixture into a large mixing bowl, preferably a stand mixer bowl, and whisk in the eggs, salt, the proofed yeast/water mixture.
- Begin adding flour. Add 2 cups of flour (250 grams) and stir well with a heavy scraper. Add another cup of flour and stir until mixed. Add another cup of flour. Dough will begin to form. Set the remaining 1 cup of flour aside.
- Set the mixer on the stand and begin kneading with the dough hook. After about 2 minutes of kneading, check dough. It will most likely be sticking to the sides of the bowl and very loose. Scrape sides of bowl and begin adding remaining cup of flour ¼ cup at a time, kneading until the dough is clinging only to the hook and not the sides of the bowl.
- Alternatively. Repeat steps above, but instead of putting on mixer stand, put the dough on a mat and knead, adding the last cup of flour as you knead.
- Scrape dough into a very lightly greased bowl, then cover and let rise for an hour or until doubled.
- Punch down dough and divide in half. On a mat, shape half the dough into a rectangle about 9x6. With a chef's knife, cut the rectangle into 8 equal pieces. Repeat with second half of dough so that you have 16 pieces. You can keep them this size, or cut each piece again to make about 32 squares for small kolaches. I think the texture of this dough and the level of sweetness works best with smaller kolaches.
- Arrange dough pieces in 2 greased 9x13 inch pans, spacing evenly. They need about ¾ of an inch or so of space between them, as they will rise in the oven and come together.
- Cover and let rise for another 30 to 45 minutes at room temperature. They will not double, but they will puff up a bit. While dough is rising, prepare cream cheese filling and crumb topping.
- For the cream cheese filling, beat together cream cheese and sugar, then beat in lemon zest, egg and a little vanilla.
- For the crumb topping, mix together the flour and sugar, then add butter. Use your fingers are a pastry cutter to cut it in, making it crumbly.
- Once dough has risen, brush pieces with melted butter. Make large indentations in the center of each piece and fill with cream cheese. Add gobs of preserves (optional). Sprinkle with crumb topping.
- Bake at 375 for 18 to 25 minutes. Bake time will depend on how large you cut the kolaches, but you want them to be golden. Internal temperature should be a little over 200F.
- Let cool before serving or serve just slightly warm.
Anna says
Greta, I will do some research.
Greta Orth says
Hi. My mother made kolache by rolling the dough out to fit a pie plate. She then had a form of custard that she poured in to an indefinite the dough and cooked it with the dough. When it was done baking she would put different types of fruits on top of it. Any idea where I could get a kolache recipe like this. It was never written down and I didn't ever see her make it from start to finish. I know the filling wasn't a pudding mix or a cream cheese mixture. Thank you. Greta
Anna says
Hi Kathy,
I hope you have fun making these. And yes, I do have a favorite. This one is good, but the one I keep going back to is actually this one. If you can get your hands on some of the "platinum" yeast, I recommend it. https://www.cookiemadness.net/2014/01/soft-and-fluffy-kolaches/
Kathy says
Going to try this one, too! I'm with you -- cream cheese are the best. Thank you for your pursuit of the perfect kolache. With the recipes you've tried, do you have a favorite? Thanks again!
Bobbi Raasch says
So happy to find this recipe - my mother-in-law and I made our "kalche" every year at Christmas and I never had the recipe for vanilla pudding in the dough-my daughter remembers helping grandma with the dough and adding the pudding, but she doesn't have the recipe either....now we have it and we don't have to wonder if its' cook and serve or instant!
Thanks!
Happy Holidays
Darlene says
Perfect. Sounds heavenly!
Anna says
Darlene, mine have a texture somewhere between a yeast raised glazed doughnut and a hamburger bun. They're lighter than your typical cinnamon roll and the dough is sweeter. Does that help?
Darlene says
I've never heard of Kolaches until your recent posts. They all look delicious and I imagine I'd love one with cream cheese filling (unless I could use a combination and top the cream cheese with cherry filling). Would anyone be able to tell me what they are similar to in taste and texture?
Anna says
Hi Carolyn, it's definitely cook and serve. I was associating boxed pudding with instant when I added that note, but the pudding is boxed cook and serve.
Carolyn says
Just wondering - do we use an Instant pudding or a cooked pudding mix - recipe instructions indicate a cooked putting, but your notes indicate instant pudding. Not sure if it matters?