Yes, yes, I know it’s December and there is really no excuse for the delay in posting. But I’m going to try anyway…. back-to-back flights to Pittsburgh and the 5 weeks where I had to work full time getting ready for and cleaning up after the November 5 election exhausted me. I haven’t done physical labor for a while and this old broad needed recoup time…..are you buying it? Oh, and Thanksgiving (Eric and I baked together and that will be the next post!) I’m back though and ready to roll!
We redid two of our most favorite recipes…babka and kouign-amann! We each tried different fillings in the babka, but no changes were made to the kouign-aman (find recipe in April post)….it’s awesome as is, we just wanted to make more 😉
You can find the recipe for the sweet, fluffy citrusy babka dough that we used in the February post of Monthly Mother Son Baking Challenge. We changed up the fillings for September, but the making of the dough along with filling/rolling/folding all stay true to the original recipe.
Eric decided to go with a traditional cinnamon roll filling for his and it looks delicious! We really need to live closer together so I can eat his stuff too! He just eye-balled the filling, so after you’ve done your rolling/folding/rolling, spread your dough with about 1/4 cup of butter. Of course if your eyeballs tell you the butter should be less or more, go with it. Then mix 1 1/2 cup brown sugar with 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 Tablespoon fresh nutmeg (feel free to use what you have) and sprinkle over butter. Then add a sprinkle of maldon salt. Yeah, I had to ask too, it’s flaky sea salt (again, feel free to use what you have). After baking and cooling per dough directions, drizzle with icing: Beat together 4 oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 3 Tablespoon of milk until smooth and flowing.
So, I made two separate fillings again. The cinnamon one from the original recipe and a cranberry orange one: https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/cranberry-orange-babka-recipe/ There is also a dough recipe at the above link, but I stuck with the one from February because I knew it was yummy. This filling was on the tart side but I felt it played well against the sweet dough. Also, don’t over fill, it will squish all over the place like the chocolate one did in February. Spread a thin layer and use the left over to put on biscuits or pancakes, or whatever bakery item you choose, for a lovely indulgence. I drizzled mine with a carmel (that’s how she spelled it) icing recipe of my mom’s : Bring to a boil over medium heat, 4 Tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Then remove from heat, add 1/4 cup milk and 2-3 cups powdered sugar. Mix until desired consistency.
Oh, one last thing, remember the sfogliatelle ricce from May? No? It was pretty forgettable, but I had frozen half of the pastries before I baked them last time, and pulled them out in October to see if I could make an improvement. I thawed them completely, them heated up some honey in the microwave. You don’t want the honey boiling hot, just warm enough to make it thin. Brushed the sfogliatelle ricce with the honey and sprinkled it with sugar and popped in in the oven (cook per recipe instructions in Mays post). They were really good this time, golden and crispy with a sweet crust on top! See you next week with the Thanksgiving recipe-Pionono!