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superbadgirlWhen I get rejected, I bake. And scour the online realtor listings and look for a house (found a small condo for a really good price, and now I'm off in dreamland again*!), both of which are fairly impractical responses.
When I was a kid and we had "coffee and rolls" social time once a month after church on Sunday, one thing that was inevitably there were kolaches, which is a Czech sweet roll, typically with prune or poppyseed filling. I ... hated them. Prunes, yuck! They were not a kid's pastry. (Of course, I don't think I actually tried one. They had me running at prune.)
In the interest of exploring my own heritage, I decided to embrace the kolache. Sans prune. Instead, I made mango and strawberry curd, two things that make these worth it even if they didn't turn out anything like what I remember the church ladies' kolaches to be.
I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and decided to go with it. I think I'd try another one next time. I made a couple of modifications.
Makes 18
Ingredients:
1/4 cup organic shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups scalded almond milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
zest of one large lemon
1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit curd
Directions:
1. Cream shortening and sugar together. Stir in salt, hot milk, beaten egg yolks, and flavoring. When lukewarm, add yeast to mixture. Let stand 5 minutes. Add flour, beating well. Knead down into bowl. The dough will be slightly sticky. Let rise 1 hour.
2. Cut off small balls of dough. Roll into rounds in your hands, and place on greased cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Let rise 15 minutes.
3. Make a depression into the center of each roll. Fill with fruit preserves.
4. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) until brown. Watch carefully. Cool on wire racks.
Note: Temp is ridiculously high. Mine burned on the bottom after ten minutes, but were golden on top. I'd adjust this, for sure! I pretty much always burn the first batch. You'd think I'd learn to do a very small test batch, but nope. Burn them all!
The dough was beyond soft, which might have been because I chose to use some butter for shortening? Other than a panicky "eep, stuff stuck to fingers!" (am I the only one who hates that feeling?), it was still pretty easy to parse out. Hard to make look pretty, though:
^ Doesn't the strawberry curd look vibrant and amazing, though?
Mango and/or Strawberry Curd
1 large mango or 1 cup sliced strawberries
2-4 TB sugar, to taste (less is more, honestly, for a nice, tart curd)
2 TB fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp cornstarch
Cube mango and puree in food processor with sugar, until as smooth as possible. In a small bowl, mix the lemon juice and corn starch. Add mixture to the fruit puree, process until well blended.
Strain the puree into a small saucepan, using a fine mesh strainer, toss the seeds/solids. Cook strained puree on medium heat until it boils, then cook a few more minutes until it thickens. Stir frequently, or even continuously. Remove from heat, then strain again into a heat-safe bowl. To avoid a skin, place the plastic wrap directly on the curd and refrigerate overnight.
Oh, MAN, the curds are amazing. A few of the strawberry pips got through, but not so much as to be totally distracting. I could eat both straight.
The church ladies also never used posypka, but I chose to sprinkle some on top, because how can you go wrong with sugar, butter and cinnamon?
Posypka (or, apparently, drobenka - posypka seems more Polish, now that I look at the etymology more closely)
1/4 c evaporated cane sugar
1/8 c all purpose flour
cinnamon to taste
2 tsp melted butter
Melt butter, add flour, sugar and cinnamon. Mix until it's a good crumble consistency.
Oh, if you don't make the rolls themselves - do the curds! It took me forever, because the only fine mesh strainer I have is about two inches across, and you really do have to strain out the fiber and pips. SOOOO good. I have lots of strawberry left. Might bake more this afternoon. What? I have to use up the curd!
*Latest dream: A retail job at a treasure company. Yes, treasures. From the sea. Pirate booty. It's a bit history/storytelling and sales and the pay is surprisingly decent. I mean, they train for 4-6 weeks, unlike most retail, where you're released to sell, sell, sell. So, in my idealistic head (imagine, some people think I'm a pessimist!), I've got that job and have purchased a small condo much closer to that place (it's down the coast a bit) and am happy as the proverbial clam.
Well, it can't hurt to apply, anyway.
When I was a kid and we had "coffee and rolls" social time once a month after church on Sunday, one thing that was inevitably there were kolaches, which is a Czech sweet roll, typically with prune or poppyseed filling. I ... hated them. Prunes, yuck! They were not a kid's pastry. (Of course, I don't think I actually tried one. They had me running at prune.)
In the interest of exploring my own heritage, I decided to embrace the kolache. Sans prune. Instead, I made mango and strawberry curd, two things that make these worth it even if they didn't turn out anything like what I remember the church ladies' kolaches to be.
I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and decided to go with it. I think I'd try another one next time. I made a couple of modifications.
Makes 18
Ingredients:
1/4 cup organic shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups scalded almond milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
zest of one large lemon
1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit curd
Directions:
1. Cream shortening and sugar together. Stir in salt, hot milk, beaten egg yolks, and flavoring. When lukewarm, add yeast to mixture. Let stand 5 minutes. Add flour, beating well. Knead down into bowl. The dough will be slightly sticky. Let rise 1 hour.
2. Cut off small balls of dough. Roll into rounds in your hands, and place on greased cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Let rise 15 minutes.
3. Make a depression into the center of each roll. Fill with fruit preserves.
4. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) until brown. Watch carefully. Cool on wire racks.
Note: Temp is ridiculously high. Mine burned on the bottom after ten minutes, but were golden on top. I'd adjust this, for sure! I pretty much always burn the first batch. You'd think I'd learn to do a very small test batch, but nope. Burn them all!
The dough was beyond soft, which might have been because I chose to use some butter for shortening? Other than a panicky "eep, stuff stuck to fingers!" (am I the only one who hates that feeling?), it was still pretty easy to parse out. Hard to make look pretty, though:
^ Doesn't the strawberry curd look vibrant and amazing, though?
Mango and/or Strawberry Curd
1 large mango or 1 cup sliced strawberries
2-4 TB sugar, to taste (less is more, honestly, for a nice, tart curd)
2 TB fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp cornstarch
Cube mango and puree in food processor with sugar, until as smooth as possible. In a small bowl, mix the lemon juice and corn starch. Add mixture to the fruit puree, process until well blended.
Strain the puree into a small saucepan, using a fine mesh strainer, toss the seeds/solids. Cook strained puree on medium heat until it boils, then cook a few more minutes until it thickens. Stir frequently, or even continuously. Remove from heat, then strain again into a heat-safe bowl. To avoid a skin, place the plastic wrap directly on the curd and refrigerate overnight.
Oh, MAN, the curds are amazing. A few of the strawberry pips got through, but not so much as to be totally distracting. I could eat both straight.
The church ladies also never used posypka, but I chose to sprinkle some on top, because how can you go wrong with sugar, butter and cinnamon?
Posypka (or, apparently, drobenka - posypka seems more Polish, now that I look at the etymology more closely)
1/4 c evaporated cane sugar
1/8 c all purpose flour
cinnamon to taste
2 tsp melted butter
Melt butter, add flour, sugar and cinnamon. Mix until it's a good crumble consistency.
Oh, if you don't make the rolls themselves - do the curds! It took me forever, because the only fine mesh strainer I have is about two inches across, and you really do have to strain out the fiber and pips. SOOOO good. I have lots of strawberry left. Might bake more this afternoon. What? I have to use up the curd!
*Latest dream: A retail job at a treasure company. Yes, treasures. From the sea. Pirate booty. It's a bit history/storytelling and sales and the pay is surprisingly decent. I mean, they train for 4-6 weeks, unlike most retail, where you're released to sell, sell, sell. So, in my idealistic head (imagine, some people think I'm a pessimist!), I've got that job and have purchased a small condo much closer to that place (it's down the coast a bit) and am happy as the proverbial clam.
Well, it can't hurt to apply, anyway.
