"wouldnt be christmas without these. trick is to eat while warm, but not so hot that the filling burns your mouth."

Crumble yeast, add milk, and a cup of the flour and set aside to rise in a warm place. Cream butter, add the sugar, and the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition, then add salt, lemon, and the rest of the flour and the yeast mixture alternately. mix well, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Set aside in a warm place, until doubled in bulk. Punch down, roll 1 inch thick on floured board, cut with biscuit cutter, and place close together in a buttered pan. Let rise until very light. Dip fingers in flour and make a cavity in the center of each biscuit, and drop in filling (canned cherry, peach, apricot, etc.). Back at 375-400 degrees for 15- 20 minutes.

Notes: I put the temp at 375...the kolache turn a light golden color when fully baked. Larger ones take 20 min, smaller 15. Be sure to butter the pan instead of using something like parchment paper, I don't know why but, they are yummier that way. Also...1 inch thick for the fast rise yeast yielded some rather large kolache (see previous post, I have to admit the size was also due to me using a larger circle) 3/4 inch thick is plenty. The filling is just any pie filling you like, the ones I made are blueberry, but cherry is also very popular at my house. Lastly, when you take them out of the oven, we always set them on brown paper bags to cool. You can get paper bags free at places like Food Pyramid with your groceries, just cut them open to lay flat :)