Cinnamon, orange and walnut babka

Cinnamon, orange and walnut babkas

 

I made these mini babkas the other day. Most of the recipes I had found involved a chocolate filling, but I wanted a more christmassy taste so I swapped for a cinnamon, orange and walnut combo. And it worked really well, either that or my friends were on the brink of starvation!
You can make the babka in any shape you want, twist 2 strands or plate 3,4,6 of them. You can make it as simple or complicated as you like, the result will not dissapoint! It is a little lengthy to make as you have to let the dough proof twice but I think the result is worth it!

 

You will need:

for the dough:
- 85g of cater sugar
- 85g of butter
- 400g of flour
- 3 eggs yolks
- 7g dried yeast
- 170 mL of milk (I used semi skimmed but full fat will work too)
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1tbsp of vanilla extract

for the filling:
- 50g of butter
- 50g of sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 oranges
- 60g of shelled walnuts

Preparation:

1. In a small container, activate the yeast by pouring tepid milk, stir and leave for 5 min.

2. In the meantime, cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs yolks one by one and then the flour. Mix until well combined.

3. Add the milk + yeast and milx all together.

4. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave the dough to prove for 2h in a warm place (at this point you can also place the dough in the fridge overnight. In the morning take it out of the fridge and leave to proof for 2h).

5. While the dough is proofing, start on your filling. Peel the oranges and cover them with water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil then drain. Refil with water, boil again then drain. This helps tenderise the peel and removes its bitterness.

6. Place the oranges, sugar, cinnamon, walnut in a blender and whizz until you get a coarse powder.

7. Add the butter and blend to the spiced mix.

8. When the dough is ready, roll into a rectangular shape. I suggest you flour the surface generously before rolling as the dough is quite sticky. I rolled mine to about 0.5 cm thick but you can have a thicker base if you would like. the thinner you roll it the more folds you will have at the end.

9. Spread your cinnamon paste on top and roll the dough on itself.

10. Cut the saussaged dough in the middle and expose the folds.

11. Twist or braid your dough in whateer shape you want and leave to prove again for 45 min. Turn on your oven at 180oC fan.

12. When the 45 min are up, put the babkas in the oven for 20 min. if you chose to make one big babka rather than lots of small ones, bake in the oven for 30 min.

Now for the hardest part...wait for them to cool before eating!