Binging with Babish: Seinfeld Special Volume I

Now we're going to whisk them together with about 3 tablespoons of poppy seeds and a quarter teaspoon. larger bowl, we will combine 7 ounces of sugar with 10 tablespoons of melted butter. Use a hand mixer to beat this until light and fluffy, to which we will add two eggs one at a time beating them into the mixture after each. Once it is well incorporated, we will add the other main ingredient, the zest and juice of a whole lemon, which we will again use our hand mixer to combine well with our butter mixture. Now we'll add half of the dry ingredients we beat earlier, beat them with a hand mixer before adding 6 ounces of buttermilk.

You can usually use yogurt in this situation, but I like buttermilk; It's a little spicier. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients and the remaining 6 ounces of butter milk, and beat until you have a nice thick muffin batter. Now, I've never actually made muffins, oops! I've never made muffins before, so I'm going to butter the edges of the muffin tin to prevent them from sticking, and then I'm going to do a sort of Goldilocks experiment where I'm going to overfill two muffins. cups, which looks like it will correctly fill two muffin pans and underfill two muffin pans, and we'll see which one produces the perfect muffin top.

Meanwhile, we are going to make a lemon glaze, with the juice of one lemon and about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Whisk until you have a nice pourable glaze. Remove the muffins from the 375°F oven after about 25 minutes and, surprise, the overfilled cups are the winners. Brush the tops of the muffins with the lemon glaze while they are still warm and let them cool completely for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, we're going to try making just a muffin top without one of those muffin pans (which I have steadfastly refused to buy). So I'm going to bake some half-baked muffin batter. in a ring mold, before removing it from the oven, remove the mold and continue baking, for another 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and with a perfect muffin top.

Brush with the glaze and it's time for a muffin showdown. We're going to start with Elaine's classic ripped muffin top, which she says is the superior method in both flavor and texture. But she couldn't be more wrong: the single bun top was so much better. It has a nice crunchy bottom and is like a little muffin cookie. Speaking of muffin cookies, here's how to make some muffin cookies: Simply drop a few tablespoons onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes at 350°F, after which you'll be greeted by these breakfast treats. deliciously abstract that will make you fail a drug test.

Jerry: "Cinnamon takes a backseat to no babka!" "People love cinnamon! It should be on restaurant tables along with salt and pepper!" "Every time someone says, 'oh, this is so good. What's in this?' The answer is always: "Cinnamon! Over and over again!" Which is the lesser babka, chocolate or cinnamon? Let's find out by heating half a cup of milk to 110°F before adding a whole packet of active dry yeast and a pinch of sugar, letting it sit for a few 10 minutes or until stinky and foamy. Meanwhile, we'll combine 18 ounces of flour with two and a half ounces of sugar, along with a teaspoon of kosher salt and a little freshly grated nutmeg, to your liking.

Combine on low speed. before attaching the dough hook and adding our milk and yeast mixture, making sure you get all that delicious foam and finally four large eggs, lightly beaten. Mix on medium speed for about five minutes, or until the dough comes together. smooth, cohesive ball. Now we will add half of our butter, that is 6 tablespoons, and knead on medium speed for another five to seven minutes, adding flour, one tablespoon at a time, if the dough sticks too much to the sides. of the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the rest of the butter and kneading for another 5 to 7 minutes or until you have a soft, pliable bread dough.

Indulge in one of life's great pleasures and remove the dough from the dough hook, before thoroughly buttering a bowl large enough to allow the dough to rise. You want it to almost double in size. Roll and stretch the dough between your hands until it forms a smooth ball, so place it in the buttered bowl and roll it to coat it evenly with butter. Cover with a clean towel and place in the oven, i.e. a turned off oven, to rest for 1 1/2 hours. We don't want this mass to get too full of itself, so just like life, we're going to tear it down.

We want to deflate the mass and remind you how powerless you are. Now is the time for it to rise cold in the refrigerator. So we will cover the bowl and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. In the meantime, let's make our fillings. Melt 1/2 cup butter with 4 and 1/2 ounces chocolate chips. Add a teaspoon of espresso powder. This won't make it taste like coffee, it will just increase the chocolate flavor. Speaking of which, here's 1/3 cup of cocoa powder. We will also add 1/3 cup of icing sugar, which we will mix gently before beating vigorously until we obtain a thick, spreadable paste.

Now it's time for our cinnamon filling. Combine 1/2 cup dark brown sugar with 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon and 1/2 cup melted butter. Beat until it forms a paste and now comes the difficult part. We reveal our refrigerated dough and, before you get your hopes up, we cut it in half. Lightly flour a rolling pin and a large work surface, and begin rolling out the dough into a 24-by-18-inch square. ...rectangle. ...I know different ways. Now it's time to evenly spread our chocolate mixture over the dough, leaving a 1 and 1/2 inch border around each edge. Once the filling is spread, we roll the dough widthwise and place it, seam side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, which we are going to place in the freezer, for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, we will spread the other half of the dough and repeat, this time using the cinnamon mixture. It will seem like there isn't enough, but keep spreading and eventually you will cover it completely. Also, roll it like a cigar and switch places with the half-frozen chocolate babka. Now we're going to cut it in half lengthwise, revealing those beautiful layers inside. Generously butter a loaf pan and drop a piece of parchment paper into it, and with half down and half up, begin twisting the pieces of dough to form a decorative log. Don't worry if they don't turn out quite right, they will look much better after we cover them with a damp towel and let them sit for another hour and a half.

And they'll look even better after we bake them at 375°F for about 30 minutes. Cinnamon or chocolate, either of them is sure to impress at your next dinner party. Generously brush the tops of the babkas with simple syrup and let them cool for at least an hour before cutting and serving. The moment of the truth; Let's see which one looks better to start with. The chocolate looks really good... ...and the cinnamon isn't that bad either. But it all comes down to taste. Chocolate babka is absolutely delicious. I love babka, I love chocolate and... I love chocolate babka.

That being said, the cinnamon was also completely delicious. So which is the winner? I have to say that Jerry got this one right: the answer is invariably cinnamon. Hey guys, I just want to talk a little bit about designing my new website with Squarespace. They have this really intuitive and easy to use platform that made it super easy for someone like me who has never done web design. They have templates, they make domains, they have really good customer service, it's really a one stop shop and all in one to create a really slick website. And I was very happy with the way mine turned out.

If you want to try it out for yourself, you can start your free trial today at squarespace.com and enter the offer code “babish” to get 10% off your first purchase. Thanks for listening guys, and I hope you enjoyed the new site. Soon I will have all the recipes for each episode available.