Cream cheese kolaches are sweet, soft pastries filled with a rich, sweet cream cheese filling. They're perfect for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon snack. Originating in Eastern Europe, they were popularized in Central Texas by the large Czech community.
Believe it or not, they're easy to make and absolutely delicious!
Table of Contents
Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.
🗝️ Key takeaways
- These kolaches are soft, sweet, and filled with a delicious cream cheese mixture. One bite and you'll be transported to "that" little bakery just off I-35 in West, Texas!
- I love them for holiday breakfasts but they're perfect for weekends, too. And, a cream cheese kolache and cup of coffee in the afternoon will revive the most zombie-like exhaustion.
- Be sure to include the 30 second whipping technique that's in the instructions. It makes all the difference.
Cream cheese kolache are puffy, soft pillows of buttery dough filled with a pool of rich, creamy cheesecake, then topped with sweet crumbles of streusel.
If you've ever had one you probably have an addiction - I know I do. They're easy to make at home with this vintage recipe.
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Variations
- Fruit & cheese kolaches: Add a spoonful of fruit jam. pie filling, or preserves on top of the cream cheese filling.
- Nutty kolaches: Sprinkle chopped nuts over the cream cheese filling before baking.
🤫 Marye's secrets for zhuzhing it up -
You can use a damp cloth to cover the bowl and keep the dough from drying out but be sure to oil the dough before you let it rise.
zhuzh: verb. To make something more interesting or attractive
🍴 Equipment
- mixing bowls, large and medium
- measuring cups and spoons
- stand mixer with dough hook
- baking sheet
- spatula
- parchment paper
🥫 How to store leftover kolache
Any leftover kolaches can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerated for up to a week.
You can also freeze them for 3 or 4 months.
Marye's Tip o' the day
Warm leftover kolaches in the oven for a few minutes to bring back their fresh-from-the-oven taste.
💭 Things to know
If you've tried my fruit kolaches and my sausage kolaches you know that I found the perfect kolache dough recipe in an old OLD cookbook with handwritten notes.
The trick is to whip the dough at the end of the kneading time for about a minute AND to bake these in a hot oven - around 425F. You'll have the lightest, fluffiest, billowiest, most beautiful homemade kolaches in the known universe.
You know... for when you get tired of sweet rolls and waffles!
- Be sure to use regular and not low fat cream cheese. Low-fat, whipped, or reduced-fat will not work.
- Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for the best results.
- Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature before mixing for a smoother filling.
- Don’t overfill the kolaches to prevent the filling from leaking out during baking.
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature unless otherwise directed in the recipe.
- Use an insta-read thermometer to ensure your liquids aren’t too hot or too cold.
- You can let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator if you want to.
- Using too much flour or overworking the dough will make them tough.
- Homemade kolache are best eaten the same day they are made or frozen.
Don't lose this recipe!
Cream cheese kolache
Pin to your favorite Pinterest board so you'll always have it handy.
👩🍳 FAQs
Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!
Yes, you can. Just mix it directly with the flour instead of going through the proofing process. You can read about the differences between instant yeast and active dry yeast here.
Absolutely! You can prepare the dough and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator. Read more about how to store bread dough here.
It's a soft, fluffy sweet roll with some sort of filling that can be either sweet or savory. Fruit, cream cheese, sausage...
Kolache originated in Eastern Europe and came to Texas with the Czech immigrants.
Danish are light and flaky. Kolache are more bready... like a cinnamon roll - sort of.
Only as far as it came to Texas with Czech immigrants. Since Texas has a large Czech population kolache is popular as well.
📚 Related recipes
📞 The last word
These cream cheese kolaches are a delightful treat that you and your family will love. Perfect for any time of day, they’re sure to become a favorite.
Looking for something as yummy as these but quicker and easier? I've got you! Check out these 20 minute cheese danish!
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Cream Cheese Kolache
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
Kolache Dough
- 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast, or 1 packet
- Pinch of ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ cup warm milk, 110F
- ½ cup whole milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
- 2 ½ cups to 3 ½ all purpose flour, about 3 if using a bread machine
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons instant potato flakes, unflavored
- 1 large egg, room temperature
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Crumb Topping
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ½ tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
Kolache Dough
- Add the yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and ginger to the ¼ cup milk and set aside.
- Put the ½ cup milk and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until the butter melts.
- Let cool to 110F.
- It should feel comfortably warm to when you drop a few drops on your wrist.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment combine 2 cups of the flour with the salt, sugar, and potato flakes.
- Add the yeast mixture and the cooled milk mixture and stir until blended.
- Add the egg and blend it in.
- Add another ⅓ cup of flour. The dough will be sticky.
- Switch to the dough hook.
- Add flour a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.
- Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. It should be easy to handle at this point.
- Knead on high for about 30 seconds to a minute.
- Remove from the mixer bowl and form into a ball.
- Rub the ball with melted butter then place it in a greased bowl.
- Turn the ball over once.
- Cover the bowl loosely with a clean tea towel.
- Let it rise for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
- Punch down.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces about the size of an egg.
- Roll into balls and arrange them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
- Brush with butter, cover loosely with tea towels or plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 hour.
- Make indentations in the buns and fill with cheese mixture.
- Sprinkle with crumb mixture.
- Bake at 425F for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully.
Cream Cheese Filling
- Beat together cream cheese with sugar until smooth.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla.
- Beat until completely incorporated.
Crumb Topping
- Combine sugar with flour and cinnamon.
- Stir in the melted butter until the mixture forms crumbs.
Notes
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature unless otherwise directed in the recipe.
- Use an insta-read thermometer to ensure your liquids aren’t too hot or too cold.
- You can let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator if you want to.
- Using too much flour or overworking the dough will make them tough.
- Homemade kolache are best eaten the same day they are made or frozen.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
✍🏻 A note from Marye...
I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.
I live exactly 58 minutes from my favorite bakery in West, Texas. 58 minutes under normal traffic and circumstances, that is.
I know the exact time because the minute that I am heading down I35 South I start thinking about which kind of kolache I am going to indulge in. It’s all fantasy of course. Anyone who has known me longer than a minute knows that it’s going to be cream cheese.
Cream cheese kolache are my favorite. If I moved to West I’d eat a ton of them. In the long run it would be totally worth the 900 deadlifts and 67 miles per day on the treadmill.
West is one of those little Texas towns you just fall in love with. In fact, I’m pretty sure you can smell kolache baking as you drive down the highway. Strolling around the tiny downtown area you may even catch a conversation in Czech. Many of the older residents still speak it.
The area was settled because of the rich farmland. After a few years the Katy Railroad was built right smack through the property of a Mr. Thomas West.
Mr West was the postmaster at the time. I guess it was just a no-brainer to call the town West in his honor. Especially since he’d supplied the property.
It might have been better if they’d’ve called it Thomas, though. People who are not from Texas get pretty confused when you tell them that West, Texas is south and maybe a little east of Dallas/Fort Worth.
To get an idea of the kind of confusion I’m talking about here’s a quote from the official West website. “West is home of Scott Podsednik of the Boston Red Sox. Scott grew up in Tours, five miles east of West…”
Isn’t that fun? Doesn’t it make you smile? Anyway…
Czech immigrants settled there and started raising their families. Big families. Pretty soon West was full of Czech culture and food.
Now it’s known as the Czech Heritage Capital of Texas and the home of the official kolaches of the Texas Legislature. No one drives through there without stopping for a kolache. A cream cheese kolache, preferably.
And by no one I mean… me. I'm no one.
First published January 23, 2017. Last updated June 26, 2024 for editorial improvements and readability.
Pat Silknitter says
I'm anxious to try these. My great aunt always made these for Christmas and Easter, and as a kid, my mom would never skip her house for a kolache fix. She made them with apricot filling and I was luck to get her recipe before she passed.
Rose Theobald says
Hi Pat, is your aunts recipe simular to this one?
Mary Noel says
My grandma made kolaches with fillings of prune, poppyseed, apricot and cheese. During the Great Depression she lived in Nebraska with her family. Her kids (my mom and aunt and uncle) remember being so embarrassed because grandma would send them door to door selling these kolaches. By the time I came along, grandma would only make these for special occasions, and cheese was my favorite too. Grandma was originally from Slovenia. Thank you for this recipe. I do not have a large stand mixer, so is there any way that I could "whip" the dough at the end?
Marye says
Just beat it as best you can. 🙂
Shelley Wigham says
I made them here in Wyoming for the work crew- they loved them and had never heard of them! Thanks for the recipe- I am a born Texan and I love both the meat and fruit ones (I know, I know the meat ones are Klobasnikys)!
Carolyn says
If I wanted to do the apricot cream cheese ones, do I put a dollop of Apricot Preserves on before the oven or after the oven?
Marye says
Either way should be fine. I do it before.
Penny says
If using a bread machine, do you put everything in the order of your bread machine instructions or so you follow your instructions for when to add ingredients? I’ve made lots of things in the machine but not kolaches.
Marye says
Penny - I don't have a bread machine and have honestly never used on so I am unsure how you would do it - other than to follow your manufacturer's instructions.
Melissa says
I just used my bread machine to try this recipe. I added everything according to my bread machine recommendations. I needed 3 1/4 cups of flour and the dough turned out perfect!
w l fuller says
Thanks they were very good
Marye says
Thanks!! Glad you liked them!
Grace says
Hi! I’m so excited to give this recipe a try - is there anything I can use instead of instant potato flakes? Or can they be omitted? I just don’t have any on hand 🙁 Thanks so much!
Marye says
Grace - they help keep the dough light and fluffy. You can omit them. You may need a bit more flour.
Blanche says
Ladies, these are not Czech kolaches. Potato flakes and ginger?
I was born in Czech Republic and lived there until 1968, I know kolaches.
Marye says
These are how they are made in Texas. And the ginger doesn't flavor it it just helps the yeast. 🙂
Melanie Meeker says
I made this recipe this morning. I'm a Texan and kolaches were part of my childhood - the cream cheese ones were always my favorite. It took my dough a while to rise the first time (about two hours) but the wait was worth it. My family loved them!
Marye says
That's great to hear Melanie!
Tara says
What a joy to find this recipe today. I was watching the Extra Virgin Americana episode from Austin where they tried food truck kolaches-they looked great.
I started reminiscing about West Tx and the wonderful kolaches available at the bakery off of I35. When my husband and I moved to Mission Tx, this was a must stop both coming and going from seeing family in Dallas. Sometimes we would go across the highway and eat at the cafe at the cattle auction. Beef for breakfast and kolaches for desert! I live in the Appalachians now and Texas cuisine is a thing of the past. No brisket, kolaches or jalapenos on anything! I am going to do my best to recreate this recipe and introduce my wonderful new community to some Texas traditions. I'll let you know how it went. Thanks again for the trip down memory lane?
Marye says
Let me know what you think of them!
cate says
Can I use this dough recipie to make kolaches filled with egg and sausage?
Marye says
This one might be better, Cate - Jalapeno Sausage Kolache
Cate says
Thank you!! We used to live in Texas and are missing them!
Marye says
🙂 I think you'll find that these are pretty close!
Bill Black says
So this old world cookbook included instant potato flakes??? Or is this your adaptation? Would love to see the recipe as writren...
Marye Audet says
Hey Bill,
Yes, it is my adaption because I'm not sure most of my readers are ready to create a recipe that starts off - Mix your yeast with your leftover potato water then grab yourself a handful of leftover mashed potatoes and mix them in real good.... I also adapted my fudge recipe because it starts off with a 5 cent Hershey bar. Not all of my readers are as adept at figuring out obscure measurements as you obviously are. Thanks for your comment.
Rose Theobald says
Lol
Kamila says
Your kolace looks very good, but as Czechoslovakian, I am struggeling with using potato flakes and ground ginger. But as you explained above it's your adjustment. To the traditional kolace recipe we also add vanilla sugar, lemon zest and 1-2 T rum. That's my grandmother recipes. Have you try to use ricotta cheese or dry curd, it has more similar consistency as we use for cheese filling.
Marye Audet says
yes.
Ron Rotert says
My wife came back from a trip to Waco and had Kolaches at small town bakery and loved them. Your recipe looked good and followed it exactly as shown. They turned out amazingly good and definitely will be added to my weekend bakes. Will experiment with some other favors on the next batches. Even though the cream cheese is good. Thanks for sharing this!
Marye Audet says
So glad you liked them! There's a couple of bakeries down that way that I LOVE. 🙂
Sara Partridge says
These look great! I have to make a bite sized version for a food event at my kid's school. Think I could quarter the egg sized balls and bake for a shorter time and pull it off? Any advice for tiny kolaches?
Marye Audet says
I think it would work. You'd just have to be careful of the time. They'd be SO cute!
Sara Partridge says
I'll give it a go, thanks!
Julie Pollitt says
I have never heard of these, but have this feeling that I would immediately fall in love!
Marye Audet says
🙂 Definitely!
Erica says
Can these be frozen?
Marye Audet says
Yes they can. 🙂
JIm Peyton says
Looks like a terrific recipe, but the instructions do not include what to do with the "4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small chunks". I assume they are included in the dough but it would be nice to include that in the recipe. Later it does mention brushing the dough with melted butter but does not include that in the list of ingredients.
Thank you!
Marye Audet says
Instruction #2 - "Put the 1/2 cup milk and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until the butter melts." 🙂
Marcia says
Is this granulated sugar or confectioners sugar?
Marye Audet says
granulated sugar.
allie says
Hi Marye - so Cream Cheese Kolache is what I've been missing all my life, huh? This New England girl loves the Boston Red Sox and how fast can I get to West from here? Ha ha. Glad to have this delicious new recipe Marye, it looks incredible! All I need is a new addiction, lol. Thankfully I have a treadmill for those 67 miles - I'll need it!