This is a filling that is frequently used for sweet rolls and Middle European kolacs, also known as kolacky or kolachke—filled, rolled, baked yeast bread.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 2 cups of filling |
Ingredients
- ½ pound poppy seeds
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup margarine
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Grind the poppy seeds in a mill or coffee grinder.
- Combine the milk, margarine, and sugar in a saucepan. Cook on low heat, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves. Gradually pour about half of the hot milk into the beaten eggs, whisking constantly. Return the egg and milk mixture to the saucepan.
- Continue to cook and stir until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a metal spoon. (Run your finger down the coated spoon: it should draw a clear line.) Add the poppy seeds and stir well to blend.
- Remove from heat; cool before using. Store unused filling in the refrigerator for up to five days.
- A half pound of poppy seeds equals a little more than 1 1/2 cups. Cream or evaporated milk may be substituted for the milk in this recipe.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 152 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 14 g |
| Cholesterol | 22 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 50 mg |
| Sugars | 12 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
My mother only used egg whites and added vanilla. My grand father used to sneak in a couple shots of his homemade slivovitz.
I made this recipe just as it was, and it’s very good. A word of caution, though, to cook on very low heat and very thoroughly scramble the eggs to make sure you don’t end up with chunks of egg in your mixture.
This recipe was perfect. First time making it so I didn’t make any substitutions, but next time I will substitute the milk and maybe add honey as well.
Excellent! I am thinking next time doubling it , and adding the zest of two lemons
Got rave reviews for my “old school” poppyseed rolls !
I tried it twice. I did not get expected results. Instead of becoming thick and coating a spoon, the mixture curdled, like very sour milk. Both times, I added the poppy seeds to the curdled mess, and then blended the curds with a hand mixer on high speed. The filling was then used in a roll-up roll. 35 minutes at 350 degrees, and the filling had somehow thickened so it stayed perfectly in place when the roll was cut. It is absolutely the best poppy seed filling I have ever had.
Great recipe, won’t buy filling anymore. I use for my rolls and cakes.
Very smooth taste, perfect component ratios. I added a bit more sugar because I was using it with commercial unsweetened puff pastry, used salted cream butter instead of margarine, ans skipped salt. The cooking instructions could have been optimized, perhaps. This is what I have done to speed up custard preparation: 1)Started the oven to 150F and placed a sauce pan inside to preheat; 2) Beat eggs till foam forms and color changes to lighter yellow; Mixer helps. 3) While eggs were being mixed, I placed cream butter in a 2-cup Pirex measuring cup and melted it in microwave; 4) Added milk to melted butter and boiled in a microwave (about 2 min on high ); 5) Added sugar to boiled milk and stirred to dissolve, reheated for 20 sec; 6) Slowly poured boiling milk/butter into eggs while running mixer. 7) Took the warm sauce pan from the oven and pour ed milk/egg mixture in it, continued cooking custard on a cook top as directed in the recipe. I use this filling with puff pastry sheets , making a roll, or tart.
This recipe was wonderful! I like that it is a bit less sweet than some other poppy seed fillings I have tried. I only had almond milk in my fridge so I used that instead of cow’s milk and it still turned out great!
A GOOD basic recipe with good results. BUT, coming from an old Bohemi(64) who was surrounded by a family of Bohemis and the old Bohemi lady friends of my Mom at our church(St. Wenceslaus, Iowa City) you should use only egg whites not whole eggs and beaten to fluff and folded into cooked poppy seed. And yes you do need the zest of a whole lemon. Watched my Mom make Kolaches and Poppy Seed Coffee Cake for 30 years before she passed, so poppy seed is in my blood.
No changes
Thanks for sharing this! We were always able to get Solo filling in Detroit but no where to be found in NW Fla. We used the recipe as written except substituted the milk with condensed milk and presoaked the poppyseeds.
came out a bit watery. very tasty.
I made this to fill hamentaschen because my mom loves poppyseed filling. I only had 1/4 poppy seeds, so I halved everything and mixed in lemon worth of zest at the end. Came out really delicious!
Just like my grandmas! I did use the cream, as suggested, just like grandma Helen did!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I know longer can get fresh ground poppy seeds, and I find that the canned version bakes too from the corn syrup. This is perfect. The only difference I make is to add grated lemon zest–about 1/8 cup.
Came out awesome! Made it last year at Christmas for my mom and it reminded her of her granmothers’ from Czechoslovakia when she was a little girl. She lost the original recipe and couldn’t believe I found one that was so good. I even found a vintage grinder which worked beautiful. Thanks so much! Will be making again this year!
Two magic words: Lemon Zest. It needs lemon zest in it.Poppy needs lemon zest. Try it, it will be even better!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I can’t get Solo brand in Northern Alberta so have to make from scratch. I changed it a tiny bit. I was out of eggs so I used 4 tablespoons of arrow root flour instead. The food processor took time to grind the poppyseed up but eventually worked well. This is by far better than the canned. I’m never going to miss it again. I’m so very happy right now.
this recipe is amazing, not too sweet. i tried finding a good poppy seed filling recipe and this one is a keeper!
FABULOUS !! Having many exchange students in the house over the past few years, from all over Europe, this filling reminded them all of grandma back home. Thanks Hepzibah!