Orange Cream Kolaches

These Orange Cream Kolaches are easy to make with

frozen yeast roll dough. And they taste delicious!

Back in May, I posted my uncle's century-old recipe for Cream Cheese Kolaches over on the Rhodes Bake-N-Serv blog. Making those kolaches brought back a flood of "taste memories" {did you have those, too?}. While I definitely know that orange isn't a traditional taste for these yeasty Czech treats, I wanted to put a modern spin on them. Check out the recipe below>>>

These are also a shortcut version of traditional kolaches...I used frozen Rhodes rolls for the base and saved myself a few hours of work. But, they still tasted fantastic! And I think they're a great combo of citrus, cream cheese and yum.

Ingredients:

Dough:

24 Rhodes White Dinner Rolls, thawed and risen slightly

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind

Filling:

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

1 egg yolk

1/3 cup raw, turbinado sugar (I prefer the texture of this, but if you can't find it, white sugar is fine)

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Allow the Rhodes White Dinner Rolls to double in size.

Mix the 1/2 teaspoon of orange rind with the melted butter. Brush the tops of the rolls with the melted butter mixture and set aside for a few minutes while you make the filling.

To make the filling, mix the cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg yolk, 2 tablespoons of orange rind and vanilla with a mixer until well blended. If you desire a more orange color, you can add a small amount of red and yellow food coloring to the filling and mix well. {This, obviously, isn't the traditional Czech way to make kolache...but we've already deviated pretty far from tradition by making a citrus filling. It is what it is.} Leave out, at room temperature, while you prep the rolls.

Using the back of a good rounded spoon, make small wells in the tops of each roll. The butter on the rolls prevents the spoon from sticking to the dough. If it does stick, just butter the back of your spoon.

Put a tablespoon of filling into the well of each roll. Allow the rolls to rise again, for about 25-30 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 17-23 minutes, watching closely so they don't get too brown.