When it is the end of apple picking season and the beginning of the apple-eating season, what better than to make something delicious. This apple cinnamon babka with maple glaze is simply divine. It will hit all the right spots. The recipe may sound time-consuming and super difficult but it all comes down to three parts.
Before gathering your ingredients, it is important to choose the right apples for this recipe. I chose these red sweet ones, but any other ones will work too. Just remember that the levels of acidity may differ, so you may have to adjust the sugar ratio. This apple filling is similar to homemade apple butter, except that it is left in chunks, rather than blended and pressed through a sieve. So you may use the filling recipe as an apple butter recipe too. If you have any leftovers, you can eat them with oats, porridge, on toast, waffles, or pancakes. Or just eat it with a spoon from the jar. Who am I to judge. There are plenty of apple cinnamon recipes simply because these two just go so well together. This cinnamon babka filled with apples is the ultimate fall treat.
In its essence polish babka is a bread made from rich brioche dough, filled with a sweet or savory filling and braided before baking in a loaf pan. Then it can be sliced and served.
Before you start, you will need to gather all the ingredients. For this apple cinnamon babka with maple glaze, you will need apples, sugar, butter, flour, eggs, yeast, a splash of whiskey, and lots of love. This whiskey maple glaze is to die for, made with a little bit of the liquid left from draining the apple filling chunks. So it is sugary, has browned bits, some booze, and buttery sugar. What could get better than that? The apple filling is super easy and practically makes itself on the stovetop. By simply adding all the ingredients to a pot and simmering them on low heat.
After you have gone through the tedious process of mixing, kneading, and rising, it is time to make the babka itself. On a piece of the rolled-out dough, you smother the apple filling. Then you roll it into a log and cut it in half lengthwise. After that you just braid or twist the pieces around each other, making sure that the open part is facing upwards at all times.
After the babka has spent decent time in the oven and the glaze has been made. It is time to combine these two ingredients. You can either pour all of the glazes over the babka slowly so it has time to soak. Or, drizzle a little bit on the whole thing and then extra on each slice. The latter way seems like the most enjoyable. This apple cinnamon babka with maple glaze is the ultimate fall comfort food. From sweet ones I mean. For me, soups, chilis, and pasta are the ultimate cold-weather comfort, but it is sweet for sticky buns, apple-covered loaves, and whatnot.
I am a huge lover of different babka recipes because you can feed a huge crowd with it and if any is left over and starting to get stale, babka french toast! Trust me, it is a whole new babka experience. And if all this is too much, just make the apple butter and whiskey glaze and smother yourself with it.
Apple cinnamon babka with maple glaze
Equipment
- Immersion blender
Ingredients
Brioche dough
- 10 g dry yeast
- 70 g sugar
- 200 g warm milk
- 1 egg
- 500 g flour
- 8 g salt
- 60 g room temperature butter
Apple filling
- 4 medium-sized apples cut into small cubes
- 150 g brown sugar
- 50 g butter
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 50 g bourbon
- 1 tsp vanilla
Apple glaze
- The liquid left from the apples about 100 g
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar
- 30 g butter
Instructions
- Make the dough by mixing all the ingredients
- Knead for 5 minutes until somewhat smooth
- Place in a well oiled bowl and let rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size
- In the meantime make the filling
- Add all the ingredients for the filling to a pot and stir
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes while stirring
- Using an immersion blender blend just a little bit, so it has some chunks left
- Pour the mixture into a sieve and drain most of the liquid, save it for the glaze
- Remove from heat and let cool completely
- Roll out the dough and cover with the apple mixture
- Roll into a log
- Cut the log in half lengthwise and twist around each other
- Place in a loaf tin covered with parchment paper
- Brush with melted butter
- Bake at 200 under foil for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes
- Cool completely before serving
- In the meantime make the glaze by mixing all the ingredients and whisking on high for 3 - 5 minutes until thickened
- Serve and enjoy