Baby Chocolate Babkas

Chocolate babka caught my eye, well, first because of the chocolate, of course. But it also intrigued me because it keeps company this time of year with other sweet yeast breads stuffed with more sweets—the German stollen and especially the Italian panettone usually scented with citrus and filled with dried fruit (and sometimes pine nuts and anise). Always interested in how Jewish and Italian foods come to share characteristics, and a little surprised at how the Jewish entry in this field ended being the most deliciously decadent, I wanted to explore these further.

Panettone is a centuries old Italian holiday bread traditionally served at Christmas and Easter. It’s a light, egg-rich tall cake filled with candied fruit. Babka (which mean’s “grandmother’s cake”) comes from Poland and Ukraine. Originally, babka was also made as a tall cake baked in a special pan with fluted sides. Some theorize that the concept was introduced to Russia and Eastern Europe by travelers carrying panettones. But it might simply be a resemblance to other tall cakes traditional in various communities across Europe. One version of Polish babka is a spongy cake similar to an Alsatian kugelhopf.

Most likely, Jewish babka that we know today evolved from Polish Jews who used their challah dough, spread it with cinnamon or jam, rolled it up and baked it for a sweet snack, according to Jewish food historian Gil Marks. Since they didn’t have the special tall loaf pan to make a traditional babka, they baked it in regular pans.

Brought to America by Polish immigrants, babka wasn’t that well known until the 1950s despite all its deliciousness. Then it gradually began appearing in more and more Jewish and non-Jewish bakeries in areas with large populations of Jews. Perhaps babka officially “made it” on the scene of American food culture when it was featured on a 1994 episode of “Seinfeld”—with the chocolate babka being much preferred over the cinnamon one!

So, about that chocolate version. The textures can vary from coffee-cake like to doughy (all good) and the chocolate filling can be made with chips, melted chocolate, and maybe even some apricot, almond, or other flavors mixed in. Sometimes you see babkas topped with streusel as well, though I think that’s unnecessary because it’s so good already.

In theory, because I love blending traditions, I approached chocolate babka–making thinking I would try to combine traditions of panettones and babka. But to be honest, I’m not a fan of dried fruit and citrusy breads like panettone, as lovely as they can be to nibble every once in awhile. So it’s babka, baby. But there was one thing—speaking of baby—I particularly wanted to do, which was make the babkas individual-sized, trading the loaf pan for muffin pans.

There are so many great recipes out there, but one that’s on fire right now is a version called Chocolate Krantz Cakes from the hot, hot, hot, cookbook Jerusalem by Jerusalem-born chefs Yotem Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. I love their approach to the filling, so I borrowed elements of that, and started with my challah dough recipe but adding more egg yolks, butter, and some vanilla extract—this is about richness, you know. A loaf-pan babka is usually two long rolls twisted, but a delight about working small-scale is that there’s less twisting and it doesn’t matter if you mess it up. The smaller size also gives versatility in the making—bake some now, freeze the rest for later, one of my favorite strategies. And like most homemade breads, these are best served the day they’re made—another reason to bake them just as you need them.

Now, if you are someone intimidated by bread making, don’t worry, this one is very accessible. The dough comes together mostly with a mixer (hand-held is fine). Just make it the day before you want to bake the babkas and refrigerate it overnight for a long, slow rise. Then deal with it whenever you are ready the next day.

The dough is very moist, so it almost can be simply pressed out with your hands (with a few assisting rolls of the rolling pin) before spreading on the chocolate filling. And because we’re simply putting chunks in muffin cups, it doesn’t matter if your roll isn’t neat.

What does matter is using good-quality chocolate and natural (rather than Dutch or alkalized) unsweetened cocoa. I usually turn to Scharffen-Berger or Ghirardelli brands but there are many other good ones.

These are especially fun for brunches, afternoon tea, or dessert. But they are equally nice savored on your own, sitting down with a cup of tea and a good book.