If you want a typical Czech sweet treat, go for „dukátové buchtičky s vanilkovým krémem“. Just a single bite, and you’ll know why these little yeasted buns with vanilla cream are a favorite between Czechs!
What Are „Dukátové buchtičky“
They’re a miniaturized version of buns, served with warm sweet vanilla sauce. The vanilla sauce or cream is sometimes called „šodó, “and its ingredients include yolks, vanilla, and heavy cream.
The buns aren’t filled with anything and are baked in an oven.
Pronunciation
I recorded a short audio clip on pronouncing the Czech word dukátové buchtičky. The first word in the audio is "dukátové buchtičky", the second is "dukátové buchtičky se šodó".
Ingredients
Dukátové buchtičky dough:
- All-purpose flour
- Yeast; I used fresh yeast, but dry yeast will work as well
- Granulated sugar
- Milk; lukewarm
- Unsalted butter; melted but not hot
- Egg
- Pinch of salt
Vanilla sauce:
- Egg yolks
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla essence
- Heavy cream; fat content of at least 30 %
You will also need melted butter to spread on the buns before putting them in the oven.
And then more melted butter and brown rum - you'll use this mixture to brush the baked buns right after taking them out of the oven.
✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.
Instructions
Making buchtičky:
- Crumble the yeast into a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of lukewarm milk, and leave at room temperature for 10 minutes to form a bubbling starter.
- Heat the remaining milk gently in a saucepan and let the butter melt in it.
- Place the flour in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, the remaining sugar, the egg, the milk and butter, and the yeast starter. Knead into a smooth dough, dust with flour, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has at least doubled in volume.
- Heat the oven to 320 °F (160 ºC). Grease a baking tray with some of the melted lard.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a roll measuring 1 inch (2,5 cm) in diameter and cut it into equal-sized pieces, which you then shape into balls in your hands.
- Place the balls in a greased baking dish. Brush each one with melted butter on all sides. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the brown rum, and spread the hot mixture over the baked buns.
⤍ Learn how to make dough rise in the oven.
Making the vanilla sauce:
What would the buchtičky be without vanilla sauce! You’ll need 6 egg yolks and 2 cups (500 ml) of heavy cream.
- Whip the yolks together with granulated sugar and vanilla essence and slowly add the hot, heavy cream to the egg mixture.
- Warm up the sauce at a low temperature for a while, stir all the time, so there are no lumps.
- Then, sieve the vanilla sauce into a clean bowl, and mix it a few times when it cools down.
- The vanilla sauce will thicken while cooling down.
A quick fix: This sauce can be completely replaced by vanilla pudding made from cornstarch.
Serving
Serve buchtičky warm, pour them with warm vanilla sauce. Buchtičky s krémem are served as a main course, less commonly as a dessert in the Czech Republic.
Cook’s Tips
- The yeast dough for the buns needs to be really thoroughly worked - you have to sort of lift it up with a wooden spoon to get air into it. After a while, the dough starts to peel away from the sides of the bowl. It is ready when it is beautifully smooth and not sticky.
- The smaller the balls you make, the prettier the buns will be!
- Spread the baked buns with a warm mixture of melted butter and brown rum. The buns will smell wonderful and remain moist.
More Czech Desserts:
- Lívance - Czech Yeasted Pancakes with Cinnamon
- Meruňkový koláč - Czech Apricot Streusel Sheet Cake
- České koláče - Czech Kolache
Recipe card
Dukátové buchtičky - Czech sweet yeasted buns with vanilla sauce
Ingredients
Yeasted dough:
- 1 tsp dry active yeast or 15 g fresh yeast
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup (170 ml) milk lukewarm
- 1 stick (110 g) butter unsalted
- 2 and ½ cups (330 g) all purpose flour
- 1 egg yolk
- pinch of salt
Vanilla sauce:
- 6 egg yolks
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 cup (480 ml) heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
To brush:
- 2 Tbsp butter melted
- 1 Tbsp rum
- ⅓ stick (35 g) butter to grease a baking dish and buns before baking
Instructions
Buchtičky dough:
- Crumble the yeast into a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of lukewarm milk, and leave at room temperature for 10 minutes to form a bubbling starter.
- Heat the remaining milk gently in a saucepan and let the butter melt in it.
- Place the flour in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, the remaining sugar, the egg, the milk and butter, and the yeast starter. Knead into a smooth dough, dust with flour, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has at least doubled in volume.
- Heat the oven to 320 °F (160 ºC). Grease a baking tray with some of the melted lard.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a roll measuring 1 inch (2,5 cm) in diameter and cut it into equal-sized pieces, which you then shape into balls in your hands.
- Place the balls in a greased baking dish. Brush each one with melted butter on all sides. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the brown rum, and spread the hot mixture over the baked buns.
Vanilla sauce:
- Separate yolks and egg whites (you’ll need only yolks). Whip the yolks with sugar and vanilla.
- Boil the whipping cream in a pot and mix it in the egg mix carefully.
- Pour the mix back to the pot and warm it up on low temperature until the sauce thickens.
- Sieve the cream into a clean bowl, let it cool down, stir occasionally.
- Lay the buchtičky on a plate and pour over the vanilla sauce.
Notes
- The smaller buchtičky you make, the nicer they will be.
- If you’re busy, lay the entire dough onto the tray and cut it with a knife into a grid. You’ll be able to separate buchtičky easier this way.
- Spread the baked buns with a warm mixture of melted butter and brown rum. The buns will smell wonderful and remain moist.
DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:
Conversion chart
Alena
I grew up in former Czechoslovakia, and I remember having dukátové buchtičky at least twice a month. I adored them as a child, but since I emigrated to the USA with my parents in 1986, I couldn't find a recipe until I stumbled upon this one. Thank you, Petra, for showing me how to make the best food of my childhood!
SR
Love this! Can you also provide a recipe for Bramborové šišky s mákem in English? My great-aunt made them when I was a child amd I am sad that I cannot pass this recipe also on to my children as the only recipes I can find are in Czech!
Petra Kupská
Hi and thanks for your comment! Here's a recipe for "bramborove sisky": instead of fried breadcrumbs, sprinkle them with ground poppy seeds mixed with powdered sugar and top with melted butter.
Dough for sisky in the Czech Republic is usually made with coarse flour (hrubá mouka), but all-purpose flour works just as well. The dough is very simple, you need potatoes pre-cooked in the skin, let them cool, peel them, and add an egg and a bit of salt, and enough flour to make a non-sticky dough. Quickly shape the sisky, then put them to boil in water. Sprinkle the sisky according to taste, it can be made both sweet and salty - for example, with braised cabbage and cubes of fried bacon.
SR
Thanks so much - I truly appreciate this! Can you provide some measurements for the ingredients?
SR
Oh I found them at the bottom of the recipe - thanks!
Petra Kupská
You are very welcome, I hope you enjoyed the recipe! 😊