How to Make the BEST Kolaches | Cream Cheese-No Knead

These kolaches are seriously the best I’ve ever had! Filled with rich cream cheese, sausage and jalapeños, these delicious stuffed rolls are a big hit!

If you like this recipe, you might like this faster version: Super Easy Ham and Cheese Stuffed Rolls

I do want to note that most of these pictures are stills I took from the video I’m working on so some of them aren’t very well focused. It’s better to see it in motion.

Video coming at some point soon! (when I get enough time to edit it)

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How to Make Kolache Dough

This batch makes about 24-26 kolaches.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees F then TURN OFF. This is to create a warm place to rise the dough.

In a mixing bowl, combine 4 and 1/2 teaspoons (two packets) of instant yeast and 1/2 cup of warm water. Let that sit and get foamy while you work on the other ingredients.

I like the flavor of Bella Rise Instant Dry Yeast.

Melt 1 stick of butter and mix in 2 cups of milk. Warm that up until it’s warm to the touch but not burning hot.

Add 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt to the milk mixture.

Combine all that with the yeast and mix.

Using a paddle attachment, mix in 5 or 6 cups of flour and beat for 5 minutes.

Then add more flour until you get to 7 cups of flour total.

The dough will be extremely sticky and will be trying to climb up the paddle. It will look like there isn’t enough flour but there totally is.

Take the bowl off the mixer and take out the paddle. Spray the top of the dough lightly with baking spray and cover with plastic wrap.

To help the oven stay moist and warm, you need an oven safe bowl or pan. Fill it with boiling water or the the hottest tap water you can and place it in the oven. Place your dough in the oven next to it and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours or until it’s doubled in size.

Let’s Make Kolache Jalapeño Filling

Cheddar cheese and sausage is a typical filling but the cream cheese brings the flavor, richness, and creaminess to the party that the cheddar is missing.

It takes it to the next level!

Because I’m a wimp who has a low tolerance for hot and spicy, I use Tamed Mezzetta Jalapeno Peppers. They have a great flavor without the heat. And I can find them at Walmart so they’re convenient too.

Use these pickled jalapeños instead of fresh chopped peppers. They got a better flavor for this kind of thing and they’re already softened from being pickled.

I always do half the kolaches with jalapeños and half without because I have little kids who don’t appreciate that flavor.

For a full batch of jalapeño kolaches, you need 2 cups of finely chopped Mezzetta tamed jalapeños and 3 packages of cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese.

Mix that together well.

So for a batch that has half with jalapeños and half without, you would need to mix together 1 cup of diced peppers with 1 and 1/2 packages of cream cheese and the other 1 and a 1/2 packages of cream cheese you divide among the rest of the rolls. So you still need 3 packages of cream cheese for a whole batch no matter what.

Portion the Kolache Dough

Once the dough has risen, pull it out of the oven and you need to set up your work station.

Leave the water in the oven.

You need a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, a kitchen scale with a small piece of parchment on that, flour for your hands, and your bowl of dough.

Zero out the scale with the parchment paper on it.

Now you need to portion the dough into balls that weigh around 2.5 ounces each.

This part can be a little tricky but you’ll get into a rhythm and I’ve got some tips for you. You’re gonna have to be ok with having really messy finger tips for this whole step though.

Sprinkle a little flour on the parchment paper on the scale because this dough is extremely sticky. You need to sprinkle it every time before you drop the dough on.

Grab a chunk of dough, trying to only use your finger tips and drop it on the scale, keeping your palm from getting sticky.

You might need to add a little more or take a little off to get around 2.5 ounces.

Sprinkle a little flour on the dough ball and pat your palms in the flour too. You need to do this every time also.

Lift your parchment paper a drop the dough ball only on your palms. trying to avoid using your sticky fingers. Then roll it around to give it a light coating of flour and tamp down the sticky bits.

Place on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Repeat until the dough is all portioned out.

Fill the Kolaches

For the jalapeño filling, just split it evenly among all the rolls and use all of it. I just eye-balled it but it looked like a little less than 1/4 cup per roll.

For the non-jalapeño rolls, evenly portion the cream cheese and place on the rolls.

You need at least 13 cooked sausages for a full batch. But if you make the rolls a tiny bit bigger, you can get away with only 12 so you don’t have to buy a third packages of sausages.

Cut the sausages in half.

Johnsonville Smoked Brats are my favorite but I can’t seem to find them anywhere right now so I use Johnsonville Beef Brats.

I like to cut the whole package in half all at once.

Place half a sausage on each roll.

My sister had a great idea to split each sausage lengthwise also, so you get more bites with sausage but I haven’t tried that yet.

Get flour on your hands to keep the dough from sticking then pick up one of the rolls and put in one palm.

Use your other hand to pull the dough from the sides and wrap around the filling and onto the sausage. Then hold it there with your thumb while you work your way around the roll.

The dough should be very soft and stretchy.

Try not to touch the filling because it becomes a giant mess if you get it on your fingers and all over the edges of the roll. The edges won’t stick to each other very well if the cream cheese is in the way.

Be careful that you don’t pull the dough so much that you cause a tear in the top.

Then pinch the gathered dough together and pat on a light dusting of flour around the outside of the roll to make it nice and round.

Place it seam side down on the pan.

Place a tiny piece of jalapeño on the top to indicate the flavor of the filling.

You’ll need 2 sheet pans with 12-13 kolaches on each.

Cover the pans and let it sit for 20 minutes to rise a little more.

I usually prepare one pan, cover, and then when I’m done doing the second, I stick the first pan in because it was sitting for long enough.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and leave the water from earlier in there to heat up.

Bake the Kolaches

Uncover the kolaches and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F.

They should be nicely browned when they’re done.

Take out and let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Jessica’s Kolache Tips

-For a quicker version, you can skip the dough part and use premade dough balls from the frozen section at the store. I use these Rhodes Dinner Rolls. Just follow the instructions on the packaging to prepare the dough then fill it and bake it. Get that dinner done!

-You can make the dough the night before and keep it in the fridge to rise very slowly. Then take it out and let it rise on the counter for an hour or until it’s room temperature and looks puffed up.

-Keep your yeast in its original bag. Put that in a freezer bag and stick it in the freezer. The yeast will be frozen in time and will last way longer than keeping it in the pantry.

-Use a pan of hot water in the oven any time you need to rise some dough. It will speed up the rising time and it seems to make things fluffier.

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