It has nothing to do with a fear of yeast, which has never really bothered me. It’s pretty easy to use, unless the yeast is dead. And that doesn’t happen very often. No, it’s more about the ultimate convenience and endless wonder of a bread machine. Why work on the dough myself when there’s a lovely machine sitting on my counter that can do all the heavy lifting for me?
Now, now, bread enthusiasts. Back off. I’m sure that my machine can’t do the wonderful things you can do, but it sure can make some cinnamon rolls lickety-split. I made these (and they’re dairy-free, too!) the night of our big snowstorm, and they made a perfect breakfast to wake up to.
While the snow is slowly melting, more disasters loom. I was looking forward to a snow day or two to myself (my kids’ school went back midweek while my system remained closed) when my youngest came down with a fever. She can’t go to school like that, so now I’m on full-time nurse duty. If history repeats itself (and it does), I’ll catch whatever she has just in time to go back to teaching this coming Monday.
Parenting 101, y’all. Ready? The more children in the house, the more disease. It’s a given, and it’s totally gross. I used to think I wouldn’t be able to clean up anything disgusting, but I’ve proven myself wrong. I’m not saying that it’s fun, but I’ve seen enough stomach-churning sights over the past eight years that I’m kind of regretting my decision not to go into medicine. Would I have passed organic chemistry? Maybe not, but I would have been able to look at any kind of human ickiness without batting an eyelash.
Plus, I’ve become extremely adept at diagnosis. Most of the time when I go to a doctor, I already know what they’re going to say. If not for their magic access to prescription-only medication, I wouldn’t even go. Oh, except for the fact that they know a lot more than I do and can save lives and all of that.
It’s a passion for research that has me scouring medical encyclopedias and cookbooks alike. With so few years on this planet (relatively speaking, that is), we’ve gotta learn whatever we can while we can! And have I mentioned that for me, a bakery visit also counts as research?
Whenever I go to the mall, I smell those famous Cinnabon devils baking. They had to put that right next to a DSW to tempt me, right? But I resist the urge every single time because I know I can make cinnamon rolls that are just as good and less of a calorie bomb right here at home. The dough comes out perfectly in a bread machine. See?
These are non-dairy. Translation: I used margarine. Or you can use any non-dairy butter substitute, or just use butter. I wanted to see what would happen without butter, and I’m happy to report that I still couldn’t stop eating these. So if Khloe Kardashian is still on that dairy-free diet, she’s welcome to dig in. I don’t think they’ll qualify as a health food. Sorry, K.
These come together super fast, and I also put mini chocolate chips in the filling to make the rolls especially melty and irresistible. Instead of a traditional cream cheese glaze, I used a simpler glaze for shine. Sometimes I like the cream cheese glaze, but most of the time I actually prefer a plainer roll. With the heavy glaze, it can be too much.
You’re one bread machine away from this happiness, so I recommend you hit it! And if someone gets sick, you can eat all of these to keep your energy up as you nurse the afflicted toward recovery. Either way, they make for a much cozier winter!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place all the dough ingredients into the bread machine in the order indicated by the manufacturer. Typically, wet ingredients go in the pan first, followed by the dry. Select the dough cycle and press start.
- When the cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and let it rest for 10 minutes while you make the filling.
- In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Set aside.
- Roll the dough out into a large rectangle measuring roughly 16 by 21 inches. Sprinkle the filling mixture on top.
- Using the long side (so you have one large cylinder when you're done), roll the dough tightly into a swirl.
- With a serrated knife, gently cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Place the pieces into a greased 9 by 13 inch pan.
- Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let them rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
- While the rolls are baking, combine the glaze ingredients. As soon as the rolls come out and are still warm, pour the glaze over the rolls. It will seem to disappear, but will leave the rolls shiny on top.
- Serve warm.
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As someone who bakes regularly, I don’t often buy dessert. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t reallyreally want to. There are very few desserts that I have a physically hard time turning away from at the store, but babka is one of them. I love babka. Deeply. Passionately. How could I not? If you’ve ever had babka, you know what I mean.
It’s yeasty, and soft, and excellent with a hot cup of tea or coffee. Plus, if you make it right, you can underbake it just a bit to make the dough pull slightly as you dig in. And if you really do it right, you can pile beautiful crumbs on top.
Imagine a cinnamon bun with a crumble topping, and you’ll see why I’m feeling the love this morning. Plus, the babka is filled with lots of cinnamon and cinnamon chips. If you’ve never had a cinnamon chip, well, yeah. You need to change that right now. Hershey’s makes them, and they’re divine.
The dough for this babka is made in the bread machine. I throw in the ingredients, set it to the dough cycle, and then put the finished dough in the fridge overnight. The next morning I can roll it out (it rises perfectly over the course of the night in the cool temp) and get it in the oven. Hello, breakfast!
If you’re a crumb fiend, a cinnamon roll fiend, or just a fiend for the best breakfast ever, these are right up your alley. And if you see a babka at the grocery store, you can avoid it without feeling any remorse because this one is just better!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Add the dough ingredients to the bread machine pan according to manufacturer’s directions and set to the dough cycle. When the dough is finished, allow to rise for one hour in a greased bowl until doubled in size. If you don’t have as much time, put the dough in the bowl and allow to rise overnight in the refrigerator. It will rise on its own in the fridge and be ready to go the next day!
- When the dough is ready, make the cinnamon filling. Pour the cinnamon chips into a bowl. Mix in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir until all the ingredients are mixed.
- Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a large, thin rectangle. Sprinkle on the filling evenly, making sure the edges are covered. Starting with the long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough to make a long, thin roll. Using a sharp knife, cut into 1 and 1/2-inch thick slices.
- Place the rolls flat into the prepared springform pan.
- Make the crumb topping. Mix the powdered sugar and flour. Add the melted butter and, using your hands along with a spatula, combine the ingredients to form large crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly and liberally over the babka, even between the crevices in the dough.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crumbs are turning golden and the dough is browning. It’s very important not to overbake the babka because that dries out the dough. I like mine a little tiny bit underbaked in the middle, but not everyone is into that!
- Cool the babka completely. Then, release the sides of the springform pan. You can serve the babka or wrap it up and freeze it.
When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to send a big box of baked goods to us a few times a year. The box was full of her goodies: cookies and cakes, most of them traditional Eastern European specialties. Nestled in the box were always two babkas. For those of you who aren’t familiar, a babka is cake that is actually made from a yeast dough and then swirled with various fillings. The traditional filling is cinnamon sugar, but more modern babkas have chocolate as well.
My grandmother’s babka had not even a hint of chocolate and resembled a cinnamon bread. This babka is adapted from Susie Fishbein’s recipe, and it’s more like a chocolate cinnamon bun with crumbly topping instead of the icing. It’s made in a springform pan and I use the bread machine for the dough, which is probably a lot easier than the process my matriarchs went through to get a good babka.
See all the crumbs on top? Intense happiness. It should satisfy all you crumb fiends out there. And the yeast dough is soft and perfectly holds the filling, an addictive combination of mini chocolate chips, cinnamon, melted butter and sugar. Oh, and have I mentioned that this is pretty indulgent?
It’s also a great breakfast. Any kind of yeast dough is technically a bread, and you can always eat bread for breakfast. There. Rationalization over.
When you make the crumb topping, don’t be too enthusiastic when you are hand-mixing those wonderful big crumbs. Otherwise they’ll get smaller, and nobody likes it when that happens. You want lots of oozing chocolate, yeasty dough, and crunchy crumbles. Oh my goodness…just thinking about it is making me emotional. Hold on while I grab another mouthful.
Oooh, chewy. I’m back! But just for long enough to write this recipe for you, because I really need to get back to this babka. Priorities, people. Break out the bread machine!
Babka Dough:
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 4 cups bread flour
Filling:
- 12 ounces mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Crumb Topping:
- 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
Instructions:
Add the dough ingredients to the bread machine pan according to manufacturer’s directions and set to the dough cycle. When the dough is finished, allow to rise for one hour in a greased bowl until doubled in size. If you don’t have as much time, put the dough in the bowl and allow to rise overnight in the refrigerator. It will rise on its own in the fridge and be ready to go the next day!
When the dough is ready, make the chocolate filling. Pour the mini chocolate chips into a bowl. Mix in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir until all the ingredients are mixed.
Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a large, thin rectangle. Sprinkle on the chocolate filling evenly, making sure the edges are covered. Starting with the long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough to make a long, thin roll. Using a serrated knife, cut into 1 and 1/2-inch thick slices.
Place the rolls flat into the prepared springform pans. You will have a few left over. You can take the leftover rolls and fit them into a small round cake pan to make a mini-babka and bake that along with the larger one. Mini babkas are so cute!
To make the crumb topping, mix the powdered sugar and flour. Add the melted butter and, using your hands along with a spatula, combine the ingredients to form large crumbs.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the crumbs are turning golden and the chocolate is melted. It’s very important not to overbake the babka because that dries out the dough. I like mine a little tiny bit underbaked in the middle, but not everyone is into that!
Cool the babka completely. Then, release the sides of the springform pan. You can serve the babka or wrap it up and freeze it. But who are we kidding? Devour immediately!
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