Care for a kolache?
Yup, you're not having a fever-dream - this is a post! And that means we're back!
Actually, to be completely fair, we've been back since late Sunday. But then I got sick again, and Logan immediately went back to working 14 hour days. Le sigh.
(More talking and pastry porn after the jump.)
But the trip was so many kinds of wonderful, I can't even count them! I'll be putting up posts over the next few days, but if you'd like a remarkably detailed (and way more concise than I could ever be) roundup of the holiday weekend's events, please check out our friend Crystal's post over at Poco-Cocoa. She and her husband Justin were our partners in crime and eating (well, mostly eating) in Louisiana, and we all had so much fun that it's high time we start planning another joint trip!
Things started out bright and early last Wednesday in Austin. We were loaded into our rental Impala and out the door by just a little after 8 - probably the earliest we've left on a road trip! Our first destination, breakfast, was about 2 hours down the road - the Kountry Bakery in Schulenburg, TX. When I put out a call for kolache recommendations, our multitalented bartender friend Bill told me about this place, and I was super excited to give them a try. (Read about another Boots stopoff for kolaches at Hruska's here.)
The iPhone for some reason placed the bakery right under the interstate, but through a combination of driving in circles and Crystal's keen eyesight we spotted the place, a short ways south of I-10 on Highway 77.
Why Kountry Bakery, instead of the more aesthetically (and aurally) pleasing Kountry Kitchen? Copyright issues, maybe?
Anyway, immediately on walking in we could tell the place was popular. A side room was packed full of boxes of baked goods, sitting on tables under signs indicating what time they'd be picked up by hungry patrons. There was a short line in front of the bakery case.
I was thankful for the line, because... how do you pick, when there are this many tasty-looking baked goods to choose from?
Talk about ordering anxiety!
Eventually, we made it out of there with 8 pastries, which was exercising huge amounts of self-restraint, let me tell you! Two of these are the evocatively named "jal pig", which turns out to be a spicy sausage wrapped in sweet dough. Two others, the round ones, are pan sausage with cheese, and when you bit into them, look EXACTLY like a thin-pattied cheeseburger - but are oh so satisfying, with the savory meat, gooey cheese, and sweet eggy dough. Then there are a couple of sweet, more traditional kolaches - we got a peach, and I'm not sure what that beautiful reddish-pink one that Crystal and Justin got was.
We also got a tube of tooth-shatteringly sweet apple strudel, and C/J ordered a pumpkin cream cheese roll that they generously let us have a bite of. Think cinnamon roll, but spread with fall-flavored pumpkin on the inside. Awesome.
Thanks to Bill for the recommendation - this place is not on the road we normally take to I-10 from Austin, and we likely wouldn't have found it otherwise! And thanks to the Kountry Bakery for being freaking delicious. Too bad it's a 4-hour round trip from here.
Kountry Bakery (website seems to be for this place and their sister bakery in Hallettsville) is at 110 Kessler Avenue in Schulenburg, TX. 979.743.4342.
And, once again, the Urbanspoon reviewers baffle me. Eh.
