You already have the dough. Just make the filling and this babka is ready to go.
Jump to RecipeWe can pull the meat out of the freezer (there’s still lots there). But if there’s one thing that’s going to be fresh tomorrow, it’s the challah. And if you want to add one more special (and chametzdike) thing to your Shabbos, you can easily make this babka.
I know that most babka aficionados make specific doughs for babka. Like the one in this recipe for babka buns. Or in this dairy cheesy version. But we’re not going there yet.
No way. Maybe the very ambitious might bake tomorrow. I think that, for the rest of us, making challah is plenty. Plenty.
This filling is sweet enough that it can easily turn challah dough into a very amazing babka. And, you probably already have that vanilla sugar left over in your Pesach pantry.
Disclaimer: My babkas do not come out this pretty and perfect. Leah was actually home when we were shooting this one, and we called her over to roll the babka for the photos.
Another disclaimer: The challah shown here is Renee’s and it’s braided using the four strand method featured in this post (a must read!).
Prefer chocolate babka? Make a big batch of Esti’s dry chocolate babka mix over here.
You might also want to make use of this hack for keeping your counters clean while rolling babka here!
Vanilla Cinnamon Babka Made with Challah Dough
Ingredients
- 1 part challah dough (equivalent to about 1 challah)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup vanilla sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 stick margarine, melted
- Some streusel crumbs featured in this post: https://betweencarpools.com/baking-your-rosh-hashanah-challah-these-are-the-best-crumbs-for-your-challah-more-you-need-to-know/
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Roll out your piece of challah dough to about the size of a baking sheet.
- In a bowl, combine brown sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, and melted margarine.
- Spread filling evenly over dough and roll up as tightly as possible. Twist dough as shown above. Place into a parchment-lined loaf pan and cut slits in each bump of the babka.
- Sprinkle with streusel crumbs.
- Bake until golden, about 25-30 minutes (this baking time may differ greatly, depending on your oven, size of babka, type of pan, and many factors).
It’s not a big deal to make a babka dough once u have the mixer out for Challa… I did 4 cup flour babka dough from Naomi nachman, takes 4-5 min to make the dough
Check with your LOR regarding using challah dough on which you are being mafrish challah… you may need to make extra dough on top of the amount that is required to be mafrish on in order to be able to make mezonos foods from it.
You still need to separate challah. Some of it being mezonos doesn’t affect the status. The thickness of dough (vs batter) affects status. If it was 5 lbs of babka dough, you would also need to separate.
This was a huge hit! The filling is absolutely delicious thank you!
So nice to hear!
Can you swap out the margarine for oil?
I made with oil, was yum,
As someone else Mentioned, it may be a problem to take off a piece if you are making 5 pound dough, If you are making a 6 pound out, it should not be a problem, as always ask lor
Slightly confused as to how the babka becomes mezonos if your using a challah dough? Doesn’t fruit juice need to be added to the mix at some point in order for it to be mezonos?
Thanks it looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it.
One way to make a dough mezonos is by adding fruit juice another is by filling w something sweet and the it will become mezonos too
Just spoke to Star K Rov about this question. He said one needs to use a lot of fruit (nuts is good as well) in order to be mezonos
According to most Rabbonim, if you make 5lb of dough, but don’t use it all for Challah, and use some for Babkah, it is considered 2 separate portions of dough and you don’t do Hafrashas Challah.
Can I use butter instead of Margarine?
Of course.
yes
Can I switch the butter with oil? If yes, how much?
Wondering if 1/2 cup vanilla sugar is the correct amount ?
Yes, it’s correct.
I found 1/2 cup vanilla sugar to be overly sweet. I’d definitely cut it next time
how did you roll the dough so thin?
I find challa dough hard to roll out so thin
I guess we try the best we can 😉
I just did babies from challah dough yesterday for the first and no matter how much I tried the dough did not come out thin as in the pic. This resulted in fewer layers of filling. I was aiming for lotsa gooey filling. Taste was still good.
Do you wait for the dough to rise once before rolling out for babka? Or do you use straight from the mixer while the rest of the dough for challah is still rising?
Yes, for sure wait.
This came out beyond delicious but a lot of the babka filling sunk to the bottom. Did I do something wrong?
As per Rabbi Barclay, you have to be mafrish challah even if you are making some into babka because the dough itself is the same, you’re just adding filling to it. You might have a problem if you change the actual dough itself ie if you add whole wheat flour to some of it…
Delicious! I vastly prefer this to regular cinnamon babka, which I generally don’t like – this was more like cinnamon buns in babka form (because, like cinnamon buns, it has more brown sugar and less cinnamon than traditional cinnamon babka). The taste of cinnamon buns and texture of gooey babka is the best of both worlds! I used oil instead of margarine and added a pinch of sea salt. I also subbed vanilla sugar with a little white sugar and a splash of vanilla extract. So yummy, my kids loved it and it quickly became a new favorite in our house!
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed!