Kolaches
I have a craft and artisan fair coming up, and I am spending a little time refining some recipes. I have some items I know will go over well at the Farmer's Markets too, one of them is Kolaches. I remember enjoying these treats when I was a child, especially when my family lived in Wisconsin, but I have lived in some places where folks were unfamiliar with this tasty pastry. These versions of Kolache were filled with chunky apple filling and apricot preserves and topped with lemon oil and nutmeg infused cream cheese and a sprinkle of streusel.
= new reply since forum marked as read
My friend's granny who was 100% Czech would make some like this Hungarian kolac, ymm! Why is this diabetic taking part in this discussion? - as he shakes his head. You can buy poppy seed filling in cans even Amazon has it. I looked at a few recipes for making it. My boyhood friend and I would run poppy seeds through a grinder. I remember asking, "Why are we doing this? It looks the same in as out?" He said it cracks them to improve the flavor. Well I guess he was right. None of the recipes I saw spoke of grinding.
with a bakery that made great kolaches. My mom called the stores main office and asked for the recipe, they said they would send it to her. When she received the recipe it for an industrial size batch, 10-pounds of this, 5-pounds of that etc. 
Prune Kringle - I got recipe from a yeast booklet way back in the 60's It has stood the test of time.
I have made this recipe many times, always a favorite. My daughter's birthday is next week and she has already asked me to make her prune kringle for her birthday. Pineapple preserves make a delicious filling for the Kringle. Cream cheese filling would be good too. This is an easy yeast recipe if you are new to yeast baking.
Dough
¼ cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2 cups flour
½ cup warm water
¼ cup sugar
2 packages dry yeast - not rapid rise
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten
Filling
1-½ cups chopped stewed prunes
3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon grated lemon peel
Note: Tthis is an old recipe from back when prunes where sold whole with the seed. Now you can buy a bag of seedless prunes that is just the right amount for this recipe.
Scald milk; cool to lukewarm. Combine the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter. Measure warm water into a large warm bowl. Sprinkle the yeast in the water and stir until dissolved. Stir in the lukewarm milk, egg and the flour mixture. Stir until well blended. Place in a greased bowl, turning dough to grease top. Cover; let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.
Make the filling: Combine the prunes, sugar, lemon juice and lemon peel, set aside.
Punch dough down and turn out onto well-floured board. Divide in half. Roll each half to a 16 x 12 inch rectangle. Place one-half on a greased 15 x 10 x 1 ½ inch pan. Spread with the prune mixture. Cover with the second half of the dough. Seal edges well. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft until doubled in bulk, about ½ hour. Bake in moderate oven (375˚
for about 20 minutes until browned.
Remove and place on rack to cool. Frost with icing made with 2 cups powdered sugar mixed with 3 tablespoons milk. Let icing set and cut in squares to serve. Makes one large cake.
I used to make this recipe often to take to family and social gatherings. I would double the recipe and make two kringles, one with prune filling and one with pineapple filling.
Hints for yeast baking.
When dissolving dry yeast in water, add a teaspoon sugar, let stand about 5 minutes or until you see little bubbles forming on top of water.
When putting dough in bowl for first rise ; fill empty bowl with hot water, let stand a few minutes to warm bowl. pour out water, dry bowl and grease as described. This helps in the rising if you have a cool, drafty kitchen like I do.