Chocolate Babka

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This is my mother in law's favorite treat. I made it for Easter a few years ago and ever since then I make it for her for every holiday because she loves it so much. It is very good and very chocolatey! It's a pretty simple recipe to follow, just a bit time consuming. If you aren't a huge chocolate fan, I'd suggest cutting down on the chocolate streusel mixture. I think it's a bit much, but that's how my mother in law likes it! Either way, this babka would be perfect for a brunch or tea.

Ingredients

Makes 3 loaves

• 1 1/2 cups warm milk, 110 degrees
• 2 (1/4 ounce each) packages active dry yeast
• 1 3/4 cups plus a pinch of sugar
• 3 whole large eggs, room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature, plus more for bowl and loaf pans
• 2 1/4 pounds semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions

1. Pour warm milk into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast and pinch of sugar over milk; let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. In a bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, and egg yolks. Add egg mixture to yeast mixture, and whisk to combine.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. Add egg mixture, and beat on low speed until almost all the flour is incorporated, about 30 seconds. Change to the dough hook. Add 2 sticks butter, and beat until flour mixture and butter are completely incorporated, and a smooth, soft dough that’s slightly sticky when squeezed is formed, about 10 minutes.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead a few turns until smooth. Butter a large bowl. Place dough in bowl, and turn to coat. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. (This usually takes about 2-3 hours for me!)
5. Place chocolate, remaining cup sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl, and stir to combine. Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut in remaining 1 1/2 sticks butter until well combined; set filling aside.
6. Generously butter three 9-by-5-by-2 3/4-inch loaf pans; line them with parchment paper. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon cream; set egg wash aside. Punch back the dough, and transfer to a clean surface. Let rest 5 minutes. Cut into 3 equal pieces. Keep 2 pieces covered with plastic wrap while working with the remaining piece. On a generously floured surface, roll dough out into a 16-inch square; it should be 1/8 inch thick.
7. Brush edges with reserved egg wash. Crumble 1/3 of the reserved chocolate filling evenly over dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Refresh egg wash if needed. Roll dough up tightly like a jelly roll. Pinch ends together to seal. Twist 5 or 6 turns. Brush top of roll with egg wash. Carefully crumble 2 tablespoons filling over the left half of the roll, being careful not to let mixture slide off. Fold right half of the roll over onto the coated left half. Fold ends under, and pinch to seal. Twist roll 2 turns, and fit into prepared pan. Repeat with the remaining 2 pieces of dough and remaining filling. This is where I freeze the loaves, if needed.
8. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Brush the top of each loaf with egg wash. Crumble 1/3 of streusel topping over each loaf. Loosely cover each pan with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm place 20 to 30 minutes.
9. Bake loaves, rotating halfway through, until golden, about 55 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.bake until babkas are deep golden, 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove from oven, and transfer to wire racks until cool. Remove from pans; serve. Babkas freeze well for up to 1 month.

Pierogi Lasagna

When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try and it and blog about it! I found it on the Omnomicon blog and while my pictures are no where near as good as on that blog, I did what I could! This was great as a side to Kielbasa with carmelized onions. I thought the end result was a little bit on the "bland" side, but I blame myself because I think my potatoes were under seasoned. I will use more onions next time as well because i found they got lost in all of the potato and noodle goodness. Also, I wouldn't serve it as a main course or by itself because all those carbs get a little overwhelming. A protein is a must with this dish! Some Grilled Kielbasa is an excellent choice. But all in all, I thought this recipe was a really good take on a pierogi. I will probably make it again!

Ingredients
1 lb lasagna noodles
4 lbs red or white potatoes
1/4 c sour cream (optional)
1/2 c milk
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 c butter (1.5 sticks) (I used about 3/4 - 1 stick)
1 onion, sliced in rings

Directions
Cook the noodles. Chop potatoes into 1" cubes, place in pot of cold water (enough to cover), and allow to come to a boil. Continue boil until potatoes are soft enough to yield to a fork stab. Drain, mash, blend with a mixer. Toss in the optional sour cream and milk, mix some more. Add salt to taste. Stir in cheddar.

Melt all the butter over medium-high heat, then sautee onion until the rings no longer hold their shape.

Preheat oven to 375. Grease the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with some of the onion-butter. Lay noodles on the bottom of the dish, then spread the potatoes, a dollop at a time, along the length of each noodle. Once done, smooth the potatoes, then spread about a quarter of the onion on top, and drizzle a small amount of butter as well. Repeat this twice (or more if your dish can accommodate), then top with noodles and the remainder of the onions and butter.

Pop in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Pierogi

Ahhh pierogi. What can I say? These little dumplings of happiness might possibly be my favorite food ever...thus my blog's name (and I'm just about 100% Polish and what's more polish than pierogi?). I should have made this my first post but didn't get around to making my little pierogi until this past weekend. I play around with recipes/ingrediants quite a bit in an effort to find "The best pierogi recipe ever" and I may have found it with this one. The dough was fabulous...and the potato "stuffing" was great. This one is definately for the archives. My husband devoured these little pierogi! Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from http://www.allrecipes.com/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pierogi-Polish-Dumplings/Detail.aspx

(Comments in italics are my notes!)

INGREDIENTS
Sauerkraut Filling (I didn't make the sauerkraut filling this time around...My husband and I perfer potato!)
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups sauerkraut, drained and minced
salt and pepper to taste

Potato Filling:
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups cold mashed potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

I also added quite a bit of chopped sharp cheddar. Adds a nice bite!

Dough:
3 egg
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder

DIRECTIONS
To prepare the sauerkraut filling, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the drained sauerkraut and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then remove to a plate to cool.

For the mashed potato filling, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir into the mashed potatoes, and season with salt and white pepper.

To make the dough, beat together the eggs and sour cream until smooth. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder; stir into the sour cream mixture until dough comes together. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until firm and smooth. Divide the dough in half, then roll out one half to 1/8 inch thickness.

Cut into 3 inch rounds using a biscuit cutter... I find that the large end of a drinking glass works just as well, if not better!
Place a small spoonful of the mashed potato filling into the center of each round. Moisten the edges with water, fold over, and press together with a fork to seal. Repeat procedure with the remaining dough and the sauerkraut filling.

You can now freeze your Pierogi. I put them on wax paper on a baking sheet and freeze for about 20 minutes or so. Then I put them in a larger air-tight container and layer them between wax paper. They freeze very well.

To cook pierogi (frozen or not) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add perogies and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until pierogi float to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon. In a seperate pan, melt about 1/2 stick of butter. Add about 1/2-1 cup of chopped onions and cook until traslucent. Add boiled pierogi to pan and fry until golden brown on each side. Serve with sour cream or just eat them plain! Enjoy!

Pierogi Education

You might be wondering why I'm refering to Pierogi in what appears to be the singular when it really should be plural. Well I was brought up in a Polish household always referring to pierogi as pierogi..never "Pierogies". While my parents aren't from Poland, their parents are. My parents both speak Polish but never taught it to my brother and I....so i'm not Polish-speaking wiz. I just know a few basics. But to help me explain the plural vs. singular for Pierogi, I went to Wikipedia which explains it as follows:

"Pierogi are usually small enough to be served several or many at a time, so the singular form is rather rare; people usually talk about several of them. This has affected forms of the word in different languages. In Polish, pierogi is plural, pieróg being singular. Other Slavic languages follow the same scheme, with Russian vareniki the plural of varenik and Ukrainian varenyky the plural of varenyk (both derived from the root varit', "to boil"). --Wikepedia under "Pierogi".

So, this being said, the title of my Blog doesn't make much sense...Le Petit being Singular and Pierogi being plural. However...I didn't think it made sense to have an American blog entitled "Le Petit pieróg" when most (if not all) Americans call a pierogi a pierogi. In addition, "Les Petits Pierogi" sounds odd to an American reader, in my opinion. Plus I'm combing French and Polish which makes absolutely no sense at all....so my blog title is a little quirky and gramatically incorrect, but hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want!

Hopefully this is all you ever wanted to know about pierogi!