Buckeye Kolache

Supple chocolate dough wrapped around a peanut butter cream cheese filling is what makes up these buckeye kolaches. Enjoy for breakfast or dessert!

Alright fellow buckeye fans (or just fans of peanut butter and chocolate), it’s week three of #PBchocSat! This is our first big game of the season. Not only is it a night game, but it’s an away game at TCU without Urban Meyer. Which of course means, like every first formidable game of the season, that I am anxious to see how good we actually are. I feel like the media hypes us up every year before we’ve played anyone worth their salt and then get slammed if we don’t live up to their preconceived notions. Here’s hoping we can continue being contenders.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that not only is this weeks recipe peanut butter and chocolate, it also happens to look like a buckeye. I have this weird ability to find foods that when made with peanut butter and chocolate resemble a buckeye nut. Call it practice from years of doing #PBchocSat, call it an obsession, but whatever you call it I call it delicious. It’s a chocolate dough wrapped around a peanut butter cream cheese filling. Admittedly the filling came out firmer than I expected (weird because I’ve used this same filling recipe in other things), but appearances aside they still tasted great so I left them as is. And I may have made these last night and didn’t have time for a redo haha.

Fun fact, I was born in Texas. Plano to be exact but my family moved right before I turned 3 so I don’t have much claim to being a Texan. Another fun fact, for some reason there are a lot of Czech kolache bakeries in Texas, which might lead you to think that my family immigrated to Texas like everyone else since that’s where I was born. But no, my Czech family is from Minnesota. Go figure. Nonetheless, I thought all those things combined with playing a Texas team today were the perfect reason to make chocolate kolaches with a peanut butter filling.

Three years ago: Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Jalapeno Aioli

Four years ago: BBQ Chicken Pizza with Cornmeal Crust

Six years ago: Buckeye Cheesecake

Seven years ago: Rustic Sourdough Bread

BUCKEYE KOLACHES

Makes 15

Ingredients:

DOUGH

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1-1/4 cups scalded milk

2 large egg yolks, beaten

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 (1/4 oz.) pkg. active dry yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

Melted butter, for brushing

Chocolate sauce, for topping

FILLING

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp sugar

1 large egg yolk

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar together. Stir in salt, hot milk, beaten egg yolks, and vanilla extract. When lukewarm, add yeast to mixture. Let stand 5 minutes or until foamy. Add flour and cocoa powder, beating well. Knead down into bowl. The dough will be slightly sticky. Cover with a damp towel and let rise 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile in a medium bowl add all the filling ingredients. Beat until fully incorporated and smooth. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a 10×15-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Divide dough into 15 pieces and roll into rounds in your hands. Place on baking sheet 1-inch apart and let rise 15 minutes.
5. Make a depression into the center of each roll and fill with a heaping teaspoon of the filling. Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating halfway through, or until browned. Remove from oven, brush immediately with butter, and cool on wire racks. Drizzle with chocolate sauce if desired before serving.

Source: Adapted from my Black Cherry Cheesecake Kolaches.