Ingredients:
For the Babki:
- 2 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour plus more
- 2 tsp of instant yeast
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup of soft butter
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1/2 cup of milk
For the Rum Syrup:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup dark rum (for no-alcohol version add few drops of rum essence to 2/3 cup of orange juice)
For the Glaze:
- 2/3 cup of icing sugar
- Few tbs of orange juice
or
- whipped cream
- candied cherry
Instructions:
- Warm up the milk in a microwave until lukewarm. 10 seconds at a time.
- Add 1 tsp of sugar and yeast. Stir and set aside.
- Add your eggs and sugar into your stand mixer and beat until pale yellow and fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract and beat some more.
- Add yeast mixture, flour and mix, using hook attachment.
- Add butter and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Butter the top and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Leave it to rise until double in size. Punch down after an hour.
- When your dough is risen, knead few times and cut into 20 parts.
- From each part form a ball and place in a well buttered mini muffin pan.
- Let rise again until the forms are full.
- Bake in preheated oven to 180 degrees celsius for 20 min.
- Make Rum Syrup by placing sugar, vanilla extract, water, and juice in a small saucepan over high heat, stir constantly, until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Let it cool.
- When cool, add rum, mix and set aside.
- While muffins are still warm, poke holes all over the top and soak them top side down in the syrup for a minute. Pour some of the Rum Syrup into the muffin pan and place your babki back to soak in the syrup from the bottom. over. When it has been absorbed, pour more syrup over. You might have to do this two or three times.
- Prepare the glaze by mixing icing sugar with orange juice, one tsp at a time until you get desired consistency.
- Set soaked muffins on the cooling rack and pour orange Glaze over them, letting it drip down the sides. Allow the glaze to harden before serving. To be honest they are the best next day! If you decide to serve them with whipped cream, put the cream just before serving for best presentation!
Enjoy!
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to find your wonderful recipes. Thank you for taking the time to post the great videos that are so informative. Today I will make these rum Babki and they will be a treat for my girls club tomorrow at lunch. What a fabulous way to start the new year.