Nutella Babka

By Shannon Sarna for The Nosher

I didn’t grow up baking or even eating babka. Coffee cake, definitely. Banana bread was a staple. But babka just wasn’t something around. When I did finally taste babka as a teenager, I was like: where have you been all my life!? Chocolatey, chewy and slightly gooey – it was a perfect Shabbat morning breakfast treat with a cup of tea or coffee.

Recently I’ve been itching to recreate babka at home. I mean, I bake challah every week – why shouldn’t I tackle babka? But, it was harder than I thought. I tried the recipe from Jerusalem. And it was great. But not quite what I was hoping to create.

And then I came across two other recipes: one from Orly Ziv’s Cook in Israel and one from a blog I came across on Instagram: Ba-Li cravings.

My recipe is really a combination of Orly’s genius idea to stuff a babka with nutella, Ba-li’s tried-and-true dough which I have updated only slightly and a technique from Jerusalem that ensures that ooey gooey babka taste and texture we all crave.

This recipe is easily pareve-erized. (Yes, you can make this nondairy.) You can either buy a nondairy hazelnut spread or you can also make your own using a recipe like this one.

It’s perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea of coffee. Or if you’re like my daughter, you will just dig right in.

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