Nutella Babka

Nutella Babka

Ingredients

4 ½ cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

½ cup lukewarm water

¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

½ cup milk or almond milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella

2/3 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Place yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Add lukewarm water and set aside until foamy, around 5-10 minutes.

In a stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix together flour, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.  In a separate bowl, mix together melted butter (or margarine) and milk (or almond milk).

Put mixer on low and begin adding the water yeast mixture, then the butter-milk mixture. Add the eggs one at a time.

When the dough begins to come together, after about 3-5 minutes, raise the speed to high and mix for another 5-10 minutes until the dough is shiny and elastic.

Place dough in a greased bowl with a damp towel on top. Allow to rise until it has doubled, about 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut dough into three equal parts. Roll out dough until it is a rectangular-like shape. Spread with chocolate-hazelnut spread. Working from the longest side, roll up dough using quick fingers, like you would in order to make cinnamon rolls.

Once the dough is a long log, cut it straight down the middle so the filling is exposed. Secure the ends on one side, and twist both the pieces . Pinch and secure at the other end.

Place in a greased loaf pan.

Bake for 35 minutes.

While the babka is baking, combine 2/3 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, remove from heat and swirl around to ensure all the sugar is dissolved.

About 20-25 minutes into baking, spoon about half the syrup onto the baking babkas.

When you take the babkas out of the oven after they have baked completely, immediately drizzle or brush the remaining syrup on top of all three babkas. It may seem like a lot of syrup, but this ensures a moist and gooey babka.

Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Dip

No matter how much I plan or prep, I find myself in a pre-dinner panic almost every time we host.  I’m opening and closing the fridge, wondering if I’ll actually have enough food. No one has ever gone hungry at my table and there’s always plenty of variety so surprise allergies or unannounced vegetarians are never a concern.

That said, I’ve built an arsenal of “quick extras” that I can add to almost any menu. Anything from roasted chickpeas, grilled polenta or this eggplant dip which reassure me there will be enough food.

This roasted eggplant and garlic dip is quick, and when you serve it in the skin of the eggplant, it looks beautiful and impressive on the table. All of the ingredients are things that I typically have in the fridge, so when I get a last minute “can we bring two friends to dinner?” phone call, I never have to say no.

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Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Dip

Ingredients

Two whole eggplants

Six cloves of garlic

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 1/2 cup tahini

1/4 cup olive oil

1 lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Scoop out eggplant flesh and cut into cubes, leaving eggplant skin whole and uncooked. Place eggplant chunks on a greased baking sheet with garlic and roast for 30 minutes.

Allow the eggplant to cool slightly.

While it's still warm, place in a food processor fitted with blade attachment and pulse with the tahini, parsley, olive oil and the juice and zest of one lemon until desired smoothness.

Serve with other various salads and fresh bread.

Halva Swirl Brownies

For some time now I had in my head that I wanted to make a brownie that involved halva, that delicious Middle Eastern sesame confection. I researched. I pondered.

And then when I got a jar of the brand-new Soomsoom Foods Tehina, I knew it was my sign to go for it. What I loved about using this particular sesame paste was the super smooth consistency, easy pour-ability and also the fantastic plastic container. Much less messy or tricky to open than the metal cans!

I used this recipe for Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies from Lovin’ in the Oven as the inspiration for my recipe.

While I chose to sprinkle the halva pieces on top of the brownies, you could also mix them into the brownie batter itself, or make a double batch of the brownies and do a layer of brownie filled with the tahini-cream cheese filling. The possibilities are endless.

Want to make this “semi-homemade” or pareve? Use some tried-and-true store-bought brownie mixmix and mix as directed. Add 1/4 cup chocolate chips to batter, and sprinkle 1/2 cup crumbled halva on top for another variation.

Halva Swirl Brownies

Ingredients

For the halva-cream cheese layer:

5 oz cream cheese

2 Tbsp butter, softened

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

1 Tbsp flour

½ cup tahini

For the brownie layer:

¾ cups flour

1/3 cup Hersheys Special Dark Cocoa

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

¼ cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 cup chocolate chips

For the top:

¼ cup – ½ cup crumbled halva pieces

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line an 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray.

For the brownie layer:

Sift flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and baking powder into a medium sized bowl.

In a small bowl cream the sugar and butter together until smooth, add eggs one at a time, beat well then add vanilla.

Fold egg, sugar, butter and vanilla mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread 3/4 of the brownie batter into the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish.

For the halvai-cream cheese layer:

Cream together butter, sugar and flour. Add cream cheese and mix/blend until smooth.

Scrape bowl and add the egg and beat until light and creamy.

Scrape down bowl again and add the tahini. Beat one minute or until the tahini is mixed into the cream cheese mixture completely.

To assemble:

Randomly dollop the tahini-cream cheese topping over the brownie batter. Dollop the remaining brownie batter on top.

Sprinkle halva pieces on top. Swirl the topping together into batter using a butter knife.

Bake at 350 for around 40-45 minutes.

Allow to cool and cut brownies into squares.