Shavuot is coming at the end of this month and finally, we have a holiday that is dedicated to milk and a dairy festive meal. Since my blog is vegetarian, all the recipes can easily fit this meal. Usually, my family celebrates Shavuot with quiches, salads, and of course – cheesecake, YUM! Last year I shared a classic cheesecake recipe and this year, I wanted to do something else. I bring you a twist to babka that is usually filled with chocolate, a delicious cheese babka.
You probably already know but if you are asking yourself, what is Babka, then I have the answer, of course. Well, it’s a sweet braided yeast bread cake, that originated in Eastern Europe. Sometimes it's topped with crumbs and as I mentioned, in most cases it's filled with chocolate.
The dough of the babka is very rich and made with eggs, butter, and milk.
The filling of my cheese babka is made of farmer cheese, an egg, cinnamon, sugar, and raisins.
To make this babka, you need to make the dough first and let it rise. After, you roll it, spread the filling and make a roll. The roll is then cut to 2 and you braid the 2 strands to get the braided look. This way the filling is shown on the outside of the cake so you don’t need to guess what it is.
This cheese babka is very comforting and delicious. I can have it any time of the day!
What can be better than sweet yeast dough with sweet cheese filling?
Get started making this delicious cheese babka:
Cheese Babka
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon dry yeast
- 1 stick (100 grams) butter melted
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup milk
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract / paste
For the filling:
- 2 cups farmer cheese
- 1 Egg
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- In a stand mixer bowl, place all dough ingredients and knead with the kneading hook for 5 minutes until you get a unified dough.
- Grease the bowl and make sure all the dough is greased too, cover with plastic and let the dough rest in a warm place for about an hour.
- Set the oven to 180°C / 350°F with the fan.
- In a bowl, mix all the filling ingredients well.
- Divide the dough to 2 equal parts.
- Roll one part of the dough into a large rectangular leaf, about 3 to 4 mm thick.
- Spread half of the filling and roll the rectangle.
- Cut the roll in the middle.
- Braid the 2 strands and transfer to a greased loaf pan.
- Repeat with the second half of the dough.
- Bake the 2 loaves for 30 minutes.
- Cool at room temperature.
- Have a piece and enjoy!
Mark
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.