If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you know
by now that my cooking skills are not that great. Why is that?
Because I never cooked while I was growing up. My mom cooked good meals but she was never a
baker. That job was my Grandma Perry’s. She would send tons of Christmas cookies
every year no matter where we lived. I
loved every type of cookie she made but the Kolache were my favorite. Sadly, my grandma passed away in November
2012. I never had the opportunity to
make the cookies side by side with her.
Though she probably would have never allowed me in the kitchen with
her. My mom and I attempted to make a
batch at Christmas last year with no success.
Instead of cookies we ended up with a smoking hand mixer. It was very important to me to learn this
recipe and carry on the tradition to my future children. On Mother’s Day 2013, my mom and I decided to
try again…. 18. Make Grandma’s Kolache cookies correctly.
1. Start a blog
2. Go to the Presidential Inauguration / visit DC
5. Eating a raw oyster
10. Learn to sew / make something I can wear
12. Drive 100 mph on the German Autobahn
13. Learn to play craps
14. Eat at Oklahoma
Joe's BBQ
18. Make
Grandma's kolache cookies correctly
20. Drink a beer the size of my head at Hofbrauhaus Munich
21. Do at least one pull-up
23. Take a train ride/ weekend trip to Herman, Mo.
25. Run a 8 min/mile 5K
26. Take ballet class from the KC Ballet
28. Visit the castle that inspired Walt Disney
30. See the Eiffel Tour sparkle
Like most
recipes from our grandparents’ generation, the Kolache recipe was not
completely written down. The ins and
outs of each recipe were all inside my Grandma’s head. And like most families, we didn’t think to
ask for specifics until we could not ask anymore. My Grandma Perry was a wonderful cook and
even better baker. Her cookies were
delicious! Since my goal from this bucket list was to become a better cook, she
was the perfect inspiration. Since her
passing in November of last year, my mom made sure that our family got copies
of her recipes so we could continue the traditional of her wonderful meals and
desserts. The Kolache is the first
recipe I wanted to tackle because it is my favorite.
I had no
idea what made these cookies so amazing until a read the recipe. I was shocked at the short list of
ingredients: flour, ice cream and
butter. Real butter! No wonder they were so good.
One of the mistakes my mom and I made during
the first attempt was no allowing the ice cream to soften. Another and more important thing we remembered
this time was to use a Kitchen Aid mixer.
The mixer is the most important piece to be successful when baking
theses cookies.
Mixer…check…softened
ice cream…check…pound of butter…check.
We were ready to go! We added
all of the ingredients according to the recipe.
Next, the recipe reads, “Chill dough”.
It doesn’t say for how long, of course!
We decided that an hour would be sufficient. We balled up the dough, added our filling
and they were ready for the oven. Easy
as pie : )
It was difficult to be
patient while the cookies cooled but this is very important. Otherwise the filling burns the crap out of
your mouth (I learned this from first hand experience).
The recipe
is quite simple and we made it though this time with only a few tears. I had a wonderful time with my mom and we
will remember this experience for a long time.
We will never know if we are baking the cookies exactly like Grandma did
and that is ok. Now we have a new
traditional that we will carry on and this time we will write it down!
Until next
time…
XOXO,
Abby
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