Owner Erwin Ahrens developed a dough recipe that captured the essence of authentic Czech kolaches by (in his words) “talking with all of the Czech grandmothers that I knew about their family kolache recipes.”
He learned from these seasoned bakers that truly the only recipe for successful kolaches was preparing them from scratch, using fresh ingredients and giving them time to rise. There was no rushing a great kolache.
In addition to making traditional kolaches filled with sweet fruit and cheese, Mr. Ahrens also incorporated Texas touch of adding savory meats to his sweet kolache dough (properly called Klobasniky). The Kolache Shoppe quickly grew to serve many local residents and businesses, and gradually moved to the heart of the city as Houston expanded.
Longtime customers of the Kolache Shoppe often reminisce about coming into the Shoppe when they were young and enjoying the smells of the fresh-baked kolaches. And now, multiple generations come in together to carry on the tradition.