Stuffed Bagel Balls

These stuffed bagel balls are baked till golden with lovely cream cheese inside, topped with everything bagel seasoning. 

During the pandemic, I’ve been borrowing e-books like crazy through the Libby app, which allows you to add a number of library cards and search for books in your own local libraries. I have three cards, two here in Texas and one in the UK so I have had a wide variety of books to choose from. 

One of my recent loans was the cookbook Family Meal, published to raise money for the Restaurant Workers’ Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund. Since I didn’t buy the book I made a donation but I wanted to tell you about it, in case any of my readers might want to buy one. Or to make a donation to the fund, click here. 

Each recipe is preceded by a personal introduction from the chef or bakers and I really enjoyed getting to know many of whom I had never heard like Dominque Crenn, Gina Homolka and Sam Sifton and many I already love/admire like Ruth Reichl, Kwame Onwauchi, Ina Garten and Eric Ripert, among others. 

Stuffed Bagel Balls 

This recipe is based on the one Gina Homolka shared for her family’s favorite Bantam Bagel balls which she says they normally buy at their neighborhood Starbucks or in the freezer section at their local supermarket. I've never tried to buy them so I cannot verify this but she says they are often out of stock. No more worries when you can make them at home! I don't know about you but I almost always have these ingredients on hand as well. 

Ingredients

4 oz or 113g cream cheese in a block

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading, dusting, etc. 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt 

1 cup or 245g non-fat Greek yogurt   

For topping: 

1 egg white, beaten

Everything bagel seasoning

Method

Chill the cream cheese block in the freezer for about 15 minutes and then cut it into 8 even pieces. Pop it back in the freezer while you make the dough.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk well. Add the yogurt to the flour mixture. 

Use a fork and a light touch to gradually mix the flour into the yogurt. Gina says you'll get small crumbles but mine was wetter and more clumpy than that. 

Use a small strainer or sieve to lightly flour your work surface and turn the dough out on it. 

Knead the dough, sprinkling with flour as needed when it gets too sticky. You want a smooth dough without lumps. Cut the dough into 8 pieces of equal size. I am a electronic scale user so I weighed the whole ball of dough and then I calculated how heavy each piece should be when divided by eight. Or you can eyeball it, your call. Roll each piece into a ball. 

Remove the cream cheese from the freezer and use clean damp hands to roll each piece into a ball or at least a cube with rounded corners. Return to the freezer. 

Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare a baking pan by lining it with baking parchment or a silicone liner. 

Flatten one ball of dough into a circle about 3 1/2 in or 9cm and then put one ball (or rounded lump, if we are being realistic) of cream cheese in the middle. 

Pull the sides of the circle up to cover the cream cheese and pinch the dough to seal it well. 

Roll it between your hands gently and place it sealed side down on the prepared baking pan. Repeat the process with the other seven dough/cream cheese balls.

Finally, use a pastry brush to brush the balls with the beaten egg white and sprinkle liberally with the everything bagel seasoning. I am a "the more toppings the better" kind of person. If I'd thought I could get away with rolling them in the egg wash and then the seasoning, I'd have totally tried it. In retrospect, that would have worked, so you do you. Next time! 

Tip: If you have an extra (read: clean/dry) pastry brush, use it to sweep up the seasonings on the pan from time to time so you can reuse it for sprinkling. This avoids waste but also stops all the toppings from burning on the pan, which no one wants. 

Bake the bagel balls for about 22 to 25 minutes, or until golden, turning the pan 180° midway through so the bagel balls brown evenly.

Let them cool for at least 10 minutes.  Then enjoy! 

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so that means it’s time for a Foodie Extravaganza party. As you might guess from the list below, our theme is all things bagel. Many thanks to this month’s host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Bagels and Lox on the Casual Side by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chicken Donut Kebab Bagel Sandwich by Sneha's Recipe
• Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole by Making Miracles
• Everything Bagel Seasoning & Avocado Topped Bagels by Palatable Pastime
• Marbled Rye Bagels by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Piquant Veggie Bagel Spread by Magical Ingredients
• Stuffed Bagel Balls by Food Lust People Love
• Za'atar-Dusted Bagels by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board

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