Chocolate babka buns

These are NOT the prettiest pastry in the case BUT! They are dee-licious. Mmmmmm!!

I was on a mental chocolate bun kick, trying to decide what chocolate-y goodness I might create for “Pastry Friday” at a nearby assisted/independent living facility. Thinking of something twisty or swirled, babka came to mind as the basic idea but this time in individual bun form.

I wrote a series of babka posts during the spring of 2017 but haven’t returned to that particular pastry for awhile now. It’s time.

I had a chocolate babka recipe in my files from Sur La Table teaching days - it was one we never ended up making in class, but I saved it nonetheless. The filling looked very intriguing but different from other filling iterations I’ve seen. The ingredient portions had me wondering so I went to the “trusty” internet to google “best chocolate babka filling”. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? A NYT article/recipe on chocolate babka by Melissa Clark that was EXACTLY the same as this particular SLT version. My oh my, how intriguing is that?

At any rate, I decided to go for it and go for it I did.

The dough is a brioche like number that gets a first rise and then an overnight in the fridge - gotta develop that flavor! Compared to my usual brioche recipe in which I keep ingredients cold, Melissa’s is less enriched with half the milk (slightly warmed), one less egg and about half the butter (egg and butter at room temperature.) Vanilla and nutmeg add some wonderful flavor too.

Here’s the dough after initial mixing;

and after a 2 hour rise.

Gently deflate, form a ball then wrap and refrigerate overnight.

There are three more things that have to be prepared for assembly and final garnishing. They can all be prepared the day before and refrigerated, but I found it easiest to do it the day of baking.

The filling is fudge-y and oh so tasty. Make it 30 or 40 minutes ahead of taking the dough out of the fridge, since it has to set up a bit to make it perfectly spreadable. I reduced the sugar in Melissa’s recipe from 100 g to 50 g. Here’s how it goes: medium saucepan; 50 g sugar, 180 ml heavy cream, pinch kosher salt; simmer, stirring on and off for 5 minutes to dissolve sugar; scrape into a bowl and blend in 170 g chopped dark chocolate (66% is nice), 113 g unsalted butter (cubed and at room temp) and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract until smooth; cool to room temp.

The chocolate streusel is for final garnishing just before the bake so you can put that together easily during the proof. Here’s how it goes: stir 60 g all purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry if you have some), 45 g granulated sugar, 11 g cocoa powder (Dutch processed is my go to) and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt together in a bowl; stir in 64 g melted butter with a fork to form large moist clumps. Melissa adds 50 g mini chocolate chips too but I left those out. Set aside.

Next is a simple syrup that will be brushed on after the bake. Here’s how it goes: combine 2/3 cup granulated sugar with 2/3 cup water in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer and simmer a few minutes to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

When ready to proceed with roll out and assembly, remove the dough from the fridge and divide it in half (it won’t have risen much). Going for a yield of 18 portions, I had my 3” Fat Daddio cake pans buttered and coated with raw sugar standing by. P.S. I have only 12 Fat Daddio pans and used 6 ramekins in addition.

The next few steps are the same as if you were making classic babka in loaf pans. Work with one half at a time, keeping the other half in the fridge until ready.

Roll each half into a 9”x18” rectangle.

Spread half the chocolate fudge mixture on each. Heaven.

Roll into a tight coil then place on parchment and into the freezer for 15 minutes or so.

Rolling, rolling, rolling . . .

Place the chilled log on your work surface, seam side down, and slit it right down the middle, turning the pieces outward to expose the filling. I used my trusty bench scraper.

Now twist the 2 pieces around each other, keeping the filling facing up.

I gave the twist a good final snugging up before dividing.

Here’s where I veer away from the classic loaf babka. I cut each twist into nine 2” lengths for a total yield of 18 portions. Tuck each piece into the prepared pans.

Cover with lightly buttered film wrap and let rise for 1 to 1.5 hours. At about an hour in, heat the oven to 350ºF.

They won’t achieve a significant doming and filling the pan type of rise but you should appreciate puffiness.

Just before going into the oven, divide the streusel over the tops of the buns using a fork and your fingers to separate clumps a bit.

Bake about 20-25 minutes, rotating the trays half way through. NOTE: if you’re making two full size loaf babkas, baking time is 40-50 minutes.

I look for browning of the dough edges and a tester coming out clean. It’s a bit messy with the chocolate and streusel so aim the tester into dough (rather than chocolate goo) as much as possible.

Just out of the oven, brush with simple syrup as best you can. The streusel and chocolate on top makes it a bit tricky, but I tried to focus the syrup on the obvious browned dough edges.

Let sit about 10 minutes then ease out of the pans/ramekins with a small offset spatula, running it around the edges to loosen the crunchy bits.

At first I was afraid these would fall apart like a pull-apart roll but as I gently released them and placed them on a cooling grid, they held their shape just fine.

Once fully cooled they maintained their integrity very nicely. Whew!

Taste test time!!

Based on the exterior appearance, I thought I’d find more chocolate inside. Not so, but the subtle swirls in the oh so tenderly textured dough, the hint of saltiness in the streusel and the all around delicious flavor of the whole are a winner in my book - and Steve agrees!!

You can use the same approach with your own favorite brioche or cinnamon roll type dough. Just go for it!

Meanwhile, autumn colors are finally appearing much later than usual. Here are a few images from some of the colorful inside displays at nearby Meijer Gardens.

Enjoy and I’ll “see” you next time around.