The Best Chocolate Babka Recipes for the Hanukkah Season

I love that babka means “little grandma” in Yiddish, because the sweet braided bread — with swirls of filling reminiscent of Bubbe's pleated skirt — is always as comforting as one.

My grandmother didn't teach me to fill and braid this popular pastry. My passion for babka was sparked by a shopping trip in the aisles of Zabar's on New York's Upper West Side while I was in college. As I grabbed a babka, ordered salmon at the counter, and brought home various pickled foods, I felt connected to the previous generations of my Ashkenazi family, who had landed first in Brooklyn and then Manhattan, searching the same shelves Browse familiar dishes from home.

The history of babka dates back to 19th century Eastern Europe, when it was made from leftover challah dough and fillings traditionally consisted of nuts or poppy seeds. But chocolate babka is considered a Jewish-American innovation. I embraced the babka innovation by experimenting with breads in many flavors: apple butter babka, cardamom à la Scandinavian confections, and even savory babkas. I am not committed to tradition, I believe in evolution!

Babka can be divisive. Many points are hotly debated: which filling you prefer, whether to use butter or oil to keep it kosher, whether it's bread or cake, whether you should frost it (or not), and even what time of day to enjoy it . Because of its decadence, it's not a true breakfast pastry, but it's not a true dessert either.

I think it is this kvetching that makes babka so versatile and full of potential, regardless of whether it is defined as this or that. Babka in all forms can be, well…better. I like to think of it like any other yeast-based pastry like cinnamon rolls or Danish pastries, where the filling can be seasonal. And if you leave it on the counter, you can enjoy it all day long.

Babka can also be an undertaking, but once you break it down into a formula (dough, filling, frosting/syrup) and master the technique (confidence is key!), it really comes down to patience – with a more than worthwhile reward. After all, babka is spectacular.

These three versions of chocolate babka are modern and nostalgic at the same time. With depth of flavor and playfulness, they draw inspiration from Jewish classics. I've found that chocolate babka can be a little monotonous and overly sweet. But each of these recipes uses complementary ingredients that enhance the flavor and provide the necessary balance.

My chocolate gelt babka is filled with a dark chocolate and hazelnut spread and sprinkled with golden jewels made from crushed amaretti cookies. It's nutty and rich and the cookies add a fun and unexpected crunch. It's then covered in a glossy chocolate espresso glaze, with coffee and vanilla being two of the ingredients that bring out the most chocolate flavor. It's definitely more exciting to cut into this babka than to peel the dusty gold coins on Hanukkah.

Next we have a black and white babka, inspired by the cookie of the same name and Jewish delicacy classics like custard and malt. This babka features a fudge filling, where the malt powder gives both the bittersweet chocolate filling and vanilla glaze a toasted, almost caramel flavor.

Dr. Brown's black cherry lemonade inspired a third version of babka, perhaps the most unusual of all. The black sesame-cocoa filling is peppered with a spoonful of cherry jam, which gives it an earthy yet sour note. Add cocoa sprinkles before baking for even more chocolate flavor/texture, and finish by adding a cherry syrup that soaks into the babka, keeping it moist and with the Black Forest flavor profile the lemonade is known for.

Almost every babka recipe I've seen over the years makes two loaves. And this is no different. Maybe it's because of the time invested that one babka just isn't enough, but I like to think that part of the tradition of babka making is to make one for yourself and give the other as a gift.

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