Happy New Year Babka!

One of my favorite times of year is New Years.  The pleasure for me does not come in partying until the wee morning hours but in enjoying the quite that follows the bustle of the holidays.  The house is still warm and festive but a new quite settles as we all rest from a month of festivities.  I love to start January 1st in the kitchen slowly making my way through multi-step recipe like a babka.  In my mind, nothing says lets get through this year together like handing a loved one a babka filled with chocolate, nuts and cinnamon or pistachios and apricot.  This year, like the past few, I spent two days kneading, proofing and filling the queen of dough.  This sour cream, butter, and egg laden-ed dough gets its start in the mixer and then is finished off by hand kneading. It spends the night in the fridge and then is ready to roll out, fill, cut and finally set to rise in the warmest part of the house.  Before baking, it gets a sprinkling of streusel and off it goes in the oven to fill the house with the most amazing, new year welcoming scent. 

All this deliciousness comes from Carole Walter (Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins& More (2007)).  This book is no nonsense.  There are few pictures and some recipes need to be read several times but if you are looking for a real baking challenge, I encourage you to start here.  This lady knows her stuff!