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Blueberry Cream Cheese Babka

Name: Blueberry Cream Cheese Babka
Prep time: 55 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 245 min
Ingredients: 3 cups blueberries; 3/4 cup sugar; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 4 cups all purpose flour; 1/3 cup sugar + 1 tsp sugar (divided); 1 tsp kosher salt; 1 pkg active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp); 1 cup milk (warmed to about 100-110 degrees); 2 eggs; 1 tsp vanilla; 10 tbsp unsalted butter (very soft and cubed); 8 oz cream cheese softened; ½ cup sugar; 1/3 cup sugar; 1/3 cup water

Apr 3, 2020 · 48 Comments

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This blueberry cream cheese babka is everything you want in a yummy breakfast or brunch treat. Homemade buttery dough envelopes swirls of sweetened cream cheese and quick made from scratch blueberry preserves. This recipe makes 2 babka loaves so you have one to stash in your freezer when you need a delicious homemade bread in no time at all.

This week has been a doozy. It’s been groundhog day over here with family breakfast, figure out how to entertain a toddler for 5 hours without leaving the house, family lunch, blessed nap time for said toddler, make dinner, family dinner, maybe allow a little too much tv time and then mercifully bedtime for the 2 year old and Netflix for the adults. Add to that few more unexpected life changes and this one will go down in the record books.

These times in a pandemic are unprecedented for all of us. There are people losing their jobs, people fighting this invisible virus on the front lines (thank you ALL hospital workers and first responders) and people trying to cope with working at home and home-schooling. It’s a tough time to process all the changes and figure out how to adapt to this new way of life.

My hope for this time is that we can continue to give each other grace, to not assume what may or may not be happening in others’ lives and to give where we can and accept help when we need it. I hope for a new appreciation for precious family time, the art of slowing down, and an understanding of where our priorities now lie.

It seems like during this time, there is also an increase in home baking. If you’ve never tried a yeast recipe before (hopefully you can get your hands on some yeast!) or had one that flopped previously, I hope you will give this blueberry cream cheese babka a chance!

overhead picture of slices of blueberry cream cheese babka

How to make babka dough

To start this recipe, you will begin to “proof” your yeast which simply means that you are making sure the yeast is alive before combining it with the other ingredients. To do this, you’ll warm some milk in the microwave or on the stove until it reads 100-110 degrees. Then you’ll add this warmed milk and 1 tsp of sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Stir it into the milk and then let it stand for about 5 minutes until it is foamy at the top. This tells you that your yeast is good and you can proceed with the recipe. If for some reason the yeast didn’t foam (milk too hot, old yeast, etc) then you would want to start over with new yeast.

From here, the rest is really simple. You will mix in your eggs, vanilla, flour, sugar and salt to the yeast mixture and then let the mixer do the magic. You’ll mix on low speed until combined and then on medium for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth. Next, you’ll add in the very room temperature butter and mix for another 4 minutes until the butter is incorporated. You’ll grease another bowl with baking spray and then transfer the sticky and wet dough into the new bowl. Cover this bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for an hour to an hour and a half until it’s doubled in size.

bowl of milk and foaming yeast — Foamy yeast after proofing.

bowl of cinnamon roll dough before rising — Foamy yeast after proofing.

How to shape and assemble babka

Once your dough has risen, punch down the dough and scrape it onto a lightly floured surface. Cut it into 2 equal halves. Starting with one half, you will roll the dough into a 12 x 16 inch rectangle and then spread it with the half of the sweetened cream cheese. Next, you’ll spread on half of the blueberry preserves. The dough gets rolled up into a long log and then will be sliced in half lengthwise. Last, you will twist the 2 halves around each other creating your final babka dough.

You’ll transfer each babka to a loaf pan lined with parchment paper squishing it at the ends to fit if needed. The dough will need another hour to do a second rise. You’ll then bake it for about 40 minutes or until it’s golden brown on top. Right after taking it out of the oven, you’ll brush a simple syrup mixture over the top of each loaf. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

babka dough spread with blueberry preserves

Can you make babka dough ahead of time?

If you would prefer to tackle the blueberry cream cheese babka over two days, here is the method for that. Make the babka dough as described above. Instead of letting the dough rise for 1-1.5 hours in a warm place, transfer the covered bowl of dough to the refrigerator overnight. It will rise overnight in the fridge and then you can proceed with the shaping and assembling steps above. You will still let it do the second rise in the loaf pan before baking.

blueberry cream cheese babka in a loaf pan

Can you freeze babka?

Once the babka is cooled, you can wrap it in a layer of plastic wrap, a layer of foil and then place it in a zip top bag and freeze it. It will last for 1-2 months in the freezer. Place it in the refrigerator the night before you will want to serve it to allow it to defrost. Slices can be toasted in a toaster or warmed in a microwave if desire. The babka will last tightly wrapped for about 3 days on the counter or longer if refrigerated.

blueberry cream cheese babka loaf sliced

For more babka and yeast bread recipes:

Let me know if you make this babka by tagging me on Instagram @tarakringlen and leaving a review below!

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