Kitchen is the Heart of the Yanok Family
First you must know, that I have a degree from The Ohio State University in Family and Consumer Science better known as Home Economics, and George has a degree in Philosophy from Case Western Reserve. Why is that important to know? Ask any family member, friend, or neighbor. George is an excellent cook and has always been the king of our kitchen. I am a lucky woman as I am told most often. He does most of the grocery shopping, creates recipes and prepares most meals for family or guests. I am sometimes a sous chef under specific directions, cleanup crew, table designer, and hostess with absolutely no pressure as the meal turns out delicious. I can relax and enjoy a glass of wine as our guests arrive without any demands from the kitchen. The only drawback is the food is too good and always contains a main ingredient, BUTTER!
One of our favorite times for the entire family to be in the kitchen is right before Christmas Day. George, being from a large Slovak family, brings many traditional holiday recipes. George spends at least 2 days in the kitchen with family members in and out to sample and complete tastings. Kolachy, thought a pastry, is more similar to a cinnamon roll than a cookie. This soft, yeasted dough is a mixture of flour, milk, butter, eggs, sour cream and BUTTER. The most common fillings for these rolls are walnuts, poppy seeds, or cheese. As these recipes have been handed down for generations, we make this a demo-class-participation experience for all.
We use the bread pans that my mother-in-law gave me many years ago.
We use Grandma Yanok’s rolling pin that shows its age and brings back memories.
Everyone with CLEAN hands gets to knead the dough.
We all including me, try to grab some dough for a taste…and George reacts quickly but never really scares anyone.
We are all impatient as the dough has to rise twice and then there is a cooling process.
Yanok Kolachy Recipe
Ingredients
½ cup of warm water (105 degrees)
2 pkg. Dry Yeast
6 ½ cups of flour
6 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 c. BUTTER
3 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup of sour cream
Directions
In a small bowl, add warm water, yeast, and 1 T. sugar. Mix and then allow mixture to bubble and rise.
In a large mixing bowl, mix 6 ½ cups of flour, 5 T. sugar, 1 tsp. of salt and mix well
Add melted butter, 3 beaten eggs, and sour cream.
Add the dissolved yeast and mix all.
Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.
Gather dough in one ball, place dough in a slightly greased bowl, cover with a towel, put in a warm place, and wait for the dough to rise. Should double in size.
Punch dough and Divide dough into 4 balls. On lightly floured board, roll dough out to a
12x 10 rectangle.
Spread filling on top of dough. Roll up and place in greased pan, seam side down. 12x4 pan
Place pans in a warm place to rise.
Brush tops with one beaten egg yolk
Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes.
Brush with milk when you remove from oven.
Cool…remove from pans before completely cool.
Cheese Filling
2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp sugar
In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Refrigerate before spreading on dough.
Nut Filling
5 cups of ground walnuts
I cup of sugar
4 egg whites, beaten
½ cup of heavy cream
In medium bowl, mix all ingredients.
Christmas Eve Dinner includes Babalki, with includes more BUTTER , sauerkraut, and small bread balls, which is even better the next day fried in more BUTTER. Sauerkraut Soup…includes sauerkraut and mushrooms, Kriplets ( a type of noodles George makes) onions fried in BUTTER…takes a little time to acquire the taste for this. Breaded fish and creamy rice complete the meal. Nut Rolls and Cheese Rolls for Dessert.