A Bunch 'o Babka

As you know, we have the good fortune to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas in our house. Not only does this mean a mammoth amount of running around for yours truly to try and make both holidays extra special for the kid, but it also means a mammoth amount of cooking and baking for family celebrations. To be honest, I really prefer the family, cooking and baking part of it, not so much the give give give part. But I digress.

Today we had our annual family Hanukkah party, and I was asked to bring dessert. Luckily, I didn't really need to scour my files that much because I had spotted a new challenge in a recent Cooking Light that I wanted to give a whirl. And it really was a challenge (for me at least) because although I consider myself to be half decent at baking, I don't have that much experience with the whole yeast-dough rising-kneading thing. In fact, I bought ingredients for a back-up dessert in case this one didn't work out.

Rich Chocolate Babka
Source: Cooking Light, November 2011

I'm not going to type the whole thing about because it is super long. So look it up or go buy the magazine. In case you are wondering, "babka," depending on your source, is a pastry of Eastern European descent - Polish, Jewish, blah blah - filled with fruit or chocolate. LUCKILY I am both Jewish AND Polish (and Russian, btw - score on the Eastern European front) so this is a win-win as far as my ancestors are concerned.

This was also a win-win as far as the fam was concerned. It turned out really well and the recipe made so much that we were able to keep half of it at home for our future eating enjoyment. My brother even made note of the lovely swirls. (And there's your shout-out, boy!)

Rating:
Three Forks (It took a really long time to make)

Babka cooling

Extreme babka close-up