Weekend Project: Kolaches

I had one of those weekends where everything feels like it's in its proper place. Mostly, this was because I was able to spend my weekend cooking, baking and sewing, which was a monumental gift after two weeks of dealing with back pain which prevented me from doing much of anything at all. My main goal was to make kolaches for Josh, since he's mentioned them often as something he loved eating while growing up.

Now, being that I hadn't had a real one, and that I wanted this to be a surprise, I felt a little out of my depth. But I remained brave...even as the dough didn't rise as the recipe said it would, and as I watched the dough rise so much while baking that it nearly pushed the filling out of the top (even though I put the amount of filling listed into careful indentations that I made in the center of each dough ball). And yes, the outside edges were also a little harder than they should have been.

But you know what? Josh was surprised and happy and even said that the prune filling tasted "authentic". And I got to use my new Silpat, which was exciting. Next time I make them, I'll try a recipe from one of Josh's Nebraska Czech cookbooks to see if it goes any better, I'll make them a bit bigger and I'll skip the crumb topping on top.

I also made granola; a dinner of skillet cornbread, breaded chicken, apple/pear sauce and garlicky greens; french toast with huckleberry syrup; and pasta with sauce and meatballs. Writing it out like that sounds a little insane, but this weekend, when I was simply grateful for good company and for feeling better, it was just right.