Peanut Butter Babka Buns #BreadBakers

These peanut butter babka buns have a tender crumb filled with a delicious ribbon of peanut butter in a slightly sweet dough. 

If you’ve never made babka before, these buns are an easier entry point to learn. In real babka loaves, the baker must stretch the dough out super thin but with these rolls, you can just roll the balls out with a rolling pin. 

My son-in-law was the babka master and it was such a pleasure to watch him in action. He managed to stretch the dough so thin you could see the grain in the wooden table below it. Truly impressive.  Like everything Dai did in the kitchen, he did it to the highest level possible. I give you example one: 

I hope he’d be proud of my buns, even if they are a sacrilegious flavor. Traditional babka are chocolate, as above,  or cinnamon. 

Peanut Butter Babka Buns

Like any enriched dough, that is one with eggs and/or butter, this one is quite sticky initially. You can make it by hand with great effort but I highly recommend the use of a stand mixer. 

Ingredients - for 6 buns

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 tablespoons lukewarm milk

1 2/3 cups or 208g all-purpose flour

1/8 cup or 14g nonfat powdered milk 

1/4 cup or 25g sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 egg white (save yolk for egg wash before baking)

4 1/2 tablespoons or 63g room-temperature unsalted butter

Canola or other light oil for drizzling the dough bowl and greasing the muffin pan

For the peanut butter filling:

1/2 cup or 125g peanut butter, slightly warmed

1 1/2 tablespoon dark brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk, whisked with drizzle of water

Method

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the yeast with the warm milk and set aside for  few minutes to activate the yeast. You should start seeing some foaming and bubbles which tell you the yeast is still alive. 

Add the flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, the whole egg, egg white and butter.

With the dough hook, mix together all of the dough ingredients to form a mostly smooth, shiny dough. Don't worry; what starts out as a sticky mess becomes beautifully satiny as it kneads. Knead this dough on medium speed for about 5 minutes.

Drizzle a little canola around your dough and use a spatula to lift the dough and coat the bowl under it so the dough ball isn’t stuck to the bowl. 

Cover the bowl with cling film and let it rise for 1 1/2-2 hours, until doubled, or overnight in the refrigerator.

To make the peanut butter filling: Place all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and beat until thoroughly combined.

On a liberally floured surface, dump the dough out and form it into a rectangle.  Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll them into balls. Cover with a damp cloth. 

With the first piece of dough, roll it out into a 4 1/2-inch wide by 12-inch wide long rectangle. 

Spread a few teaspoons of the filling evenly onto the rectangle, stopping before the edge. 

Roll the rectangle tightly, in a horizontal fashion, into a log. 

Transfer the log to a platter that can fit in your freezer and put it in there. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Transfer the logs to the freezer as you make them. 

Brush the muffin pan with canola and set aside. 

Remove the first roll of dough you made from the freezer and trim off the edges on both sides of the roll. Using your clean kitchen scissors, cut the roll in half, lengthwise, almost all the way to the end, so the striations of the dough and filling are visible. Leave the very end connected on one side. 

With the cut sides facing up, place the left side of the log over the right and then repeat with the right over the left until you've braided or twisted the two together. Pinch the cut end closed. 

Shape the braided dough into a circle, making sure the "ends" go past the circle and overlap one another. 

Tuck the long ends under the up through the center hole.

 

Transfer to the greased cavities of your muffin pan. Repeat with the remaining logs.  

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise 1 hour or until the rolls have risen out of the muffin pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C

Gently brush the tops of the buns with egg wash and transfer to the oven to bake for 15-17 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Allow to cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack. 

Enjoy! 

It's time for my Bread Bakers group to share recipes for babka! Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Kelly from Passion Kneaded. 

• Baby Babkas from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate and Pistachio Babka from Passion Kneaded
• Chutney and Paneer Babka from Magical Ingredients
• Cinnamon Blueberry Babka from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Nutella Babka Buns from Sneha's Recipe
• Peanut Butter Babka Buns from Food Lust People Love
• Pecan Pie Babka from A Messy Kitchen
• Savoury Babka with Sun-dried Tomato, Feta, and Coriander Chutney from Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Classic Eton Mess

A Classic Eton Mess has three essential ingredients, beautifully ripe strawberries, meringue and whipped cream. It can easily be made with store-bought meringues, for a simple yet lovely dessert, pretty enough for company.

The folklore behind the quintessential English dessert, Eton Mess, is that it was created when a group of Etonians, students at that famous school, were headed out for a picnic, a meringue topped with whipped cream and berries stashed in the car. The story goes that one of their dogs stepped on the dessert, crushing the meringue and generally making a mess of it. They ate it anyway and declared it delicious.

But if Wikipedia is to be believed, the truth is rather less romantic. The classic Eton mess was first mentioned in print back in 1893. To quote that source, “Eton mess was served in the 1930s in the school’s ‘sock shop’ (tuck shop), and was originally made with either strawberries or bananas mixed with ice-cream or cream. Meringue was a later addition. An Eton mess can be made with many other types of summer fruit, but strawberries are regarded as more traditional.”

Classic Eton Mess

This can be made in one big bowl from which you will serve with a spoon or in six individual bowls. The pistachios are not traditional but they add a lovely pop of green to the Classic Eton Mess. If you are making your own meringues, start one day ahead of assembling and serving this dessert to leave plenty of time for the meringues to dry out and get crunchy. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs or 680g ripe strawberries

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

Pinch salt

1­-2 tablespoons orange liqueur (e.g. Triple Sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier)

1 1⁄2 cups or 360ml whipping cream 

18 small meringues­ - homemade or store-bought 

2 tablespoons pistachio slivers, optional

Method

Hull and chop the strawberries roughly.

Put half of the chopped strawberries in a small pot with the sugar, a good pinch of salt and a tablespoon of water. 

Cook over a medium heat for about 3­-4 minutes, crushing the strawberries lightly with a fork or potato masher when they start to soften. Cook at a low boil for another 3­-4 minutes, until the strawberries and syrup that is created have thickened somewhat.

Put the hot strawberries in a heatproof bowl, stir in the orange liqueur and leave to cool. 

Stir in the rest of the strawberries. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until completely chilled.

Once the strawberries are cold, whip the cream into stiff peaks. Divide it in half and fold one quarter of the strawberries into half of the cream.

To serve, make small layers from the bottom: 

1. strawberries 

2. pink cream (with strawberries)

3. 2 small meringues, crumbled roughly 

4. white cream (plain)

5. strawberries 

6. slivered pistachios (if desired) and a whole mini meringue on top.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and what could be more fun than some great dessert recipes. Check them all out below. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. 

• Alle Balle Recipe by The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
• Berry Galette by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Bread Rasmalai by Sneha’s Recipe
• Classic Eton Mess by Food Lust People Love
  
• Patriotic Jello Bars by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Strawberry Glaze Pie by Palatable Pastime
• Strawberries and Cream by Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Whisky Barrel Cake by Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Ruth's Creamed Spinach

Not a copycat recipe but the real thing, aside from the addition of garlic, which we love, and extra spinach. This recipe comes right from Ruth’s Chris Steak House. It's rich, creamy and deliciously indulgent!

One of my husband’s favorite dishes is creamed spinach, the kind they serve in fancy steak places like Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris Steak House so I was not surprised last week when he ordered the spinach at Taste of Texas, a local steak house.

I had read the menu a little more carefully, so I pointed out to him that it was just normal spinach, not creamed. He quickly amended his order but he was very disappointed. That’s when I decided that I needed to make creamed spinach for this week’s Sunday FunDay event! It is truly a steak house favorite.

A brief search online turned up the actual recipe for Ruth’s Creamed Spinach, printed on cards that are (or at least were) given out at a Ruth’s Chris Steak House San Antonio location. (I’m pretty sure “steamed” is meant to be “stemmed” and that’s just a typo since cooking instructions follow.) 

You can find a few other Ruth's Chris recipe cards here: https://ruthschrissa.com/marketing/ Scroll down and click on the recipe card to see them. 

A little piece of trivia I also discovered about the famous steak house chain, Ruth’s Chris Steak House: The story goes that Ruth Furtel bought a restaurant called Chris Steak House from owner, Chris Matulich, and kept the name. But when she opened a second restaurant and called it the same, he sued her for using a name he had established. 

This prompted Ms. Furtel to name all of her restaurants Ruth’s Chris Steak House, to avoid any issues. And that’s why such a good restaurant has such an awkward name. 

Ruth's Creamed Spinach

Half and half is a particularly American dairy item, which is half heavy cream and half whole milk. You can substitute one cup or 240ml of each. I weighed the spinach after cooking and squeezing in case I want to use frozen spinach next time, which would make this a considerably faster dish. You are welcome! 

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter

1/4 cup or 32g flour

2 cups or 480ml half and half 

1 small shallot (or 2 tablespoons minced onion)

1 clove garlic

1 small bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

18 oz or 510g fresh spinach (or 270g frozen, thawed and squeezed dry)

To serve:

2 tablespoons butter, softened

Salt to taste, if needed

Few good grinds black pepper

Method

Pick the stems off of your spinach leaves and discard. 

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set it near the stove. When the water comes to a boil, add the spinach. Cook for one minute then use tongs to transfer the spinach to the ice water bowl. 

Once the spinach has cooled, use the tongs to transfer it to a colander. Leave in the sink to drain while you make the white sauce.

Peel and mince the shallot and garlic. 

To make the white sauce aka béchamel, melt the butter in a small pot. Whisk in the flour. 

Cook for a few minutes to get rid of the floury taste.  Add in the shallot, garlic, bay leaf and salt. 

Cook for two minutes, then whisk in the half and half. 

Cook for about five minutes, whisking frequently, until the mixture comes to a low boil and thickens. Once it thickens, cook for a further two minutes then remove the pot from the stove. 

Squeeze the spinach in the colander to remove as much liquid as you can then chop it finely in a food processor.  

When you are ready to serve, remove the bay leaf then add the spinach to the white sauce.Warm the mixture gently over a low heat, stirring frequently. 

Add the extra butter, salt to taste and a few good grinds of black pepper. 

Stir well and serve. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing our favorite steak house recipes, in honor of National Steak House Month and in case you want to make them for Father’s Day. Check out all the links below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Palatable Pastime: Chopped Steak with Longhorn Steakhouse Seasoning 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Grilled New York Strip Steaks with Herb Compound Butter 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Keto Fried Beef Steaks 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Shallots and Rosemary 
• Food Lust People Love: Ruth’s Creamed Spinach 
• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Steakhouse Garlic Butter

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad

This Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad with pomegranate molasses vinaigrette is a fresh, delightful salad, perfect for the hot days of summer ahead for many of you. Here in Houston, they have already arrived!

Now it seems that watermelon feta salads abound on the internet but several years ago, while we were still living in Dubai, I saw my first one. By the hostess station – please wait here for us to seat you! - it was just a photo on a new restaurant menu with the watermelon and feta cut in perfect alternating cubes. It was both beautiful and, I imagine, delicious. 

We were meeting a friend for lunch elsewhere in the mall so I never got to try it but I’ve never forgotten it either. I wanted to create the same dish here but my feta would not cooperate. As I tried to cut it into cubes, it just kept crumbling. 

That’s when I threw my model salad aspirations to the wind and decided to add the cucumber for color and crunch. It was a good decision. Nothing more cooling than cucumber, except perhaps for juicy watermelon.

Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad

For the vinaigrette, to keep with my Middle Eastern theme, I used pomegranate molasses, which is tart with a hint of sweet and is very more-ish in salad dressings and marinades. Most Middle Eastern or Mediterranean shops will carry it. If you truly cannot find it, substitute rich balsamic vinegar. Or you can make your own, as I’ve done when I’m desperate, by gently boiling down pomegranate juice until it’s as thick as molasses. I know, I know, I'm weird like that. 

Ingredients

For the salad:

(about) 2 lbs or 900g cubed watermelon

1 English cucumber (about 10.5 oz or 300g)

1/2 small purple onion

3.5 oz or 100g sheep’s milk feta, crumbled

For the vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (available in most Middle Eastern stores or online)

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

fresh ground black pepper

good pinch fine sea salt

Method

For the vinaigrette, whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside. 

As I mentioned above, I was trying to make cubes of my watermelon so I cut a large cross-section in the middle, lengthwise. 

Since the feta didn’t cooperate, my watermelon didn’t really need to be perfect cubes, yet here I was, not knowing yet, so I was cubing. 

You do you and cut the watermelon however you want. Flavor will NOT be affected. (No watermelon was wasted in the making of this salad! We ate it all, just not in this salad!)

Next trim the ends and cut the cucumber into half circles. 

Thinly slice your purple onion. (Wanna call it red onion still? See my hill here.)

If you so desire, attempt to cut your feta into cubes. Abandon this step as I did, if not successful. No photos here as it was a crumbly massacre. *shiver* Just resign yourself to crumbles. It’s all good. 

Arrange the watermelon cubes (and feta cubes if you got lucky!) and the cucumber half moons on your platter. Distribute the purple onion slices evenly on top. 

Scatter the feta crumbles (if you didn’t get lucky!) over the watermelon and cucumber. 

Drizzle with the pomegranate molasses vinaigrette and serve slightly chilled or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Chicken and Cashew Salad with Ginger Dressing 
• Sneha's Recipe: Mango & Cucumber
• Pandemonium Noshery: Summer Corn and Pickled Onion Salad
• Magical Ingredients: Vegan Gochugaru Jicama Coleslaw 
• Food Lust People Love: Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories:  White Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad

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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Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel

Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel are the perfect muffins for the peanut butter lovers in your life, so full of peanut butter flavor inside and out!

Regular readers will notice from the photos that I am not in my usual kitchen. But such is my dedication to Muffin Monday that in my suitcase I packed the disposable muffins cups, flour, and baking powder just so I could bake these muffins. And a spatula. Also two sharp knives and my little knife sharpener, but those had nothing to do with these peanut butter muffins!

I love staying in Airbnbs because of the kitchen but often they are ill equipped, with the most common missing items being a decent knife and a non-stick pan. I get it. Casual renters can ruin good knives and scratch non-stick pans but, dang, those would really elevate my cooking experience. I draw the line at packing pans (for a flight – road trips maybe!) but I often do bring one or two good knives in my checked bag. 

Is there something you travel with when you know you’ll have a kitchen to cook in? I'd love to hear what it is.

Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel 

This recipe makes 8 regular sized muffins. To make the streusel, it is essential that the peanut butter be well chilled so you can make crumbles. Since this is an unusual number of muffins, you might want to follow my lead and use a flat baking pan and disposable muffin cups, like these Reynolds brand foil baking cups. They are foil outside with a paper muffin cup inside so they don’t need the support of a muffin pan. Back when I was baking large quantities of cupcakes and muffins for my daughters' school fundraisers, these were a godsend. 

Ingredients

For the muffins:

3/4 cup or 94g flour

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup or 80g smooth peanut butter (I use reduced fat Jif)

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

1 egg 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the streusel:

¼ cup or 32g all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons or 25g sugar 

3 tablespoons or 45g creamy peanut butter, well chilled 

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups. 

Make the streusel by combining the ingredients in a small bowl and using a pastry blender or the tines of a fork to mix them lightly to create crumbles. Put the bowl in the fridge until you are ready to use the streusel. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

In another bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, milk, egg and vanilla. 

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones until just combined. 

Divide the batter between your 8 muffin cups.

Top with the streusel. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack, if you have one! My little kitchen did not.

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it's Muffin Monday today, the last Monday of the month when my friends and I share our favorite muffin recipes. Check them out below. 

• Hot Cross Bun Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Peanut Butter Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel from Food Lust People Love
• Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Sourdough Strawberry Chocolate Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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with Peanut Butter Streusel!

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