Recipe: BabkaTaschen
Babkataschen – babka meets hamentaschen. Image by Kosher.com
Sticking with a classic filling like poppy (but feel free to use chocolate, halva, prune, my cookie butter filling, recipe below, or whatever you like), I present to you the ultimate mix-up, mash-up Purim treat. This recipe yields approximately 12 large BabkaTaschen. These fillings and crumb toppings are just a suggestion. Feel free to use what you like, and let your imagination run wild. It is Adar after all!
Ingredients
Dough
2 cups warm water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons active dry yeast or Gefen Instant Yeast
3 whole eggs plus 1 yolk
3 and 1/2 sticks (1 and 1/2 cups plus 4 tablespoons) unsalted margarine, softened
7–9 cups all-purpose flour (you may need more or less)
1 teaspoon fine pink Himalayan sea salt or Gefen Himalayan Pink Salt
Filling
1 cup poppy seeds (grind to flour-like or fine consistency)
1/2 cup Gefen Honey
1/2 cup non-dairy milk substitute (I like using vanilla flavor rice milk or almond milk)
1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
1/2 lemon, zested or 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or 1/4 teaspoon Gefen Vanilla Extract
Streusel
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2-4 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
1 stick unsalted margarine, cubed
Cookie butter filling
1 full package cookies of your choice (approximately 36)
1/4 cup refined coconut oil
Instructions
Dough
If using active dry yeast, proof it by following my directions here. (While you don’t need to proof instant yeast, I always do for extra security. If you don’t want to proof your yeast, just make sure you use instant/rapid rise.)
Once the yeast is bubbling, add eggs, egg yolk, margarine, flour, and sea salt.
Once the dough comes together (meaning it pulls away from the sides of the mixer bowl, leaving no dough residue), turn off your mixer for two minutes. If you are kneading by hand, follow the same directions, kneading until it pulls away easily with no residue from the counter or pastry board. This rest gives the gluten in your flour a chance to rest.
After two minutes, turn mixer back on (or continue by hand) and knead for three to five minutes.
Remove the dough from mixer and place in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Keep the dough covered (so it does not dry out) or section it out and allow to rise on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap and sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely as mentioned above.
Meanwhile prepare the filling and streusel.
Note: If you don’t want to use all of the dough at once, you can separate and freeze extra dough before the first rise. To freeze, simply wrap balls of dough in plastic wrap, and place in a zip-top-style freezer bag. When you want to defrost it, simply remove from the freezer, remove plastic wrap, place in a greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap until room temperature.
Filling
Add all the ingredients to the saucepan. (If using vanilla extract, do not add until the end.)
Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, and allow to cook/simmer until thickened. Once thickened, remove from heat, and add vanilla.
Cool. (Often times, I strain the poppy seed filling to remove any extra liquid.)
Streusel
Combine ingredients using your hands until margarine is incorporated into the sugar and flour. You can make the streusel large or small, depending on your preference.
Variation: For a cookie-flavored streusel, swap out poppy seeds for cookie crumbs!
BabkaTaschen Time!
When dough is risen, divide into six-, eight-, or 12-ounce portions.
Using a rolling pin, flatten dough into quarter-inch thickness in a circular shape. (It doesn’t need to be perfect, it should just resemble a circle.) Feel free to use a bowl as a template and a paring knife to cut the shape and trim.
Next, spread filling over the surface of the dough.
Assemble
There are two ways to assemble the BabkaTaschen:
Option 1
Bring one of the top sides towards the center, followed by the other side, and finally the bottom towards the middle. Pinch, seal, and turn (flip) over.
Using a paring knife cut out a triangular shape from the middle of the dough. You may add more filling to fill the triangle if desired. Brush with beaten egg, and sprinkle with streusel crumbs.
Option 2
Dollop a generous amount of filling in the middle of the dough. Brush the circumference of the circle with egg wash and bring left and right side of the dough together. Pinch tightly to make sure it’s sealed. Repeat with bottom section, bringing it to the center of the dough. Brush with egg, and cover with streusel. The streusel and egg prevent the BabkaTaschen from opening while baking.
Bake
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown (approximately 30 minutes).
Remove from oven, and transfer to cooling rack using a large spatula. Allow BabkaTaschen to cool completely before eating since the poppy filling stays mighty hot.
Optional Cookie Butter Filling For an alternative to poppy filling, try this cookie butter filling recipe:
Add cookies and coconut oil (in a solid state) to your food processor. (Refined coconut oil is tasteless and flavorless, but it melts down while the cookie butter forms and solidifies to the texture of peanut butter once it sets.)
Run for approximately five to eight minutes or until creamy and smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides every three minutes.
Top BabkaTaschen with cookie streusel or topping of your choice!
A native of Montreal, Canada. She moved to Southfield, Michigan back in 2010 with her husband, Josh and 3 young boys. Originally an early childhood educator, she found her true passion in baking and the kosher culinary world. In 2014, Naomi decided to follow her dream full time by starting TGIS Challah—which stands for Thank Goodness it’s Shabbos—offering challahs, babkas and more. She also started doing cooking and baking demonstrations for charitable, corporate and other events. Naomi can be found on Instagram as @naomi TGIS. For questions, comments or inquiries about demos please contact Naomi at [email protected]_
This recipe originally appeared on Kosher.com
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