For the longest time, chocolate babka was one of those foods for me.

You know those foods. You ate something once, many years ago, and became sick from it. Now, you experience awful nausea every time you see it, smell it, or even think about it.

My parents once brought a loaf of chocolate babka bread on one of our vacations to somewhere in the Bahamas. I was so sick that trip — probably not even from the babka — but for years I couldn’t stand it. I finally overcame my aversion earlier this year, when a chocoholic friend brought down the most amazing loaf from a bakery near his home in Long Island. I once again found this amazing food irresistible.

Our decision to bake a loaf of babka was random. No reason other than that we just felt like eating some. This recipe, adapted from this one on Epicurious, will make your kitchen smell as good as the best bakery in the world, and the bread that it produces is soft, bittersweet, and utterly worth the effort and there is definitely some required). Our best advice for this bread is to be patient, and to perform each step with tender care. Love the loaf, and you’ll be rewarded.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup warm milk
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 extra tsp
3 tsp active dry yeast
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

(filling)
5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (you can use chips or bars)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon

(egg wash)
1 tbsp milk
1 egg yolk

Instructions:
Stir together warm milk and 2 teaspoons sugar in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour and beat using dough hook until combined. Add whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and continue to beat until combined. Mix in remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Then beat in butter, a few pieces at a time, and continue to beat until dough is shiny, soft, and sticky. You can also use a wooden spoon to rapidly mix ingredients together. Put dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Line each loaf pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (one horizontal and one vertical). Punch down dough, then divide it in half. Roll out one piece into an 18×10-inch rectangle, with the longer edge nearest you. Beat together yolk and milk. Spread 2 1/2 tbsp spoon softened butter on the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Brush some egg wash on the long border. Sprinkle half of chocolate over buttered dough, then sprinkle with half of sugar and cinnamon. Starting with long side farthest from you, roll dough into a snug log, pinching firmly along egg-washed seam to seal. Bring ends of log together to form a ring, pinching to seal. Twist entire ring twice to form a double figure 8 and fit into one of lined loaf pans. Repeat with remaining dough, chill egg wash, and loosely cover pans. Let dough rise an additional 1 to 2 hours, until dough reaches top of loaf pans, then bake in an oven preheated to 350 for about 40 minutes, until tops are a deep golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes in pans, then remove from pans. Serve warm.

There are two stories relating to these cupcakes, and the first is the story of baking them. While shopping for ingredients, I discovered that the grocery store was out of disposable muffin pans. Not wanting to wander around West Philly searching for them, I decided to try out the muffin cups that supposedly allow you to bake muffins by filling the cups and placing them on a regular baking tray. Bad idea. The couldn’t hold their shape, and expanded significantly in the oven, causing the cupcakes to become smushed into several giant, deformed cakes. I ended up making an entire second batch — in the non-disposable cupcake pan that I had forgotten I owned. Thank goodness the recipe was super easy.

The second story (this one is actually not really story) relates to serving the cupcakes. We brought them to New Jersey to serve at a reception for my grandmother’s art show at her public library. The event was hilarious, because how could a gathering of 65+ Jewish people from New Jersey not be?

The recipe for the cupcakes is from the Magnolia Bakery, so we knew that they would taste great. Despite this, they surpassed our expectations by miles, tasting seriously out of this world. These cupcakes are fluffy like clouds, and moist like the softest cake. They taste like warm vanilla sugar, but not overwhelmingly. They hold together well, but melt gently on the tongue. With the icing, there’s no question that these cupcakes have been precisely designed to taste like the most perfect little vanilla cakes in the world.

Ingredients:
(cupakes)
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

(icing)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line muffin tins with cupcake papers. In a small bowl, combine the flours, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Incorporate the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before icing.

To make icing, place butter, 4 cups of sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to spread. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Icing can be store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

On our second day of Spring Fling, we needed to make something delicious for a friend’s brunch. We wanted to bake so that we could bring goodies that were still warm from the oven, but didn’t have a lot of time in the morning. And since a lot of our friends have tasted many of our brunch recipes, we were reluctant to fall back on old staples. After piddling around recipe sites for a while, I decided to search the Smitten Kitchen archives, where I found a recipe for zucchini bread — something that I’ve always loved, but never made myself. Because her recipes have never failed us (or likely, anyone) we decided to go for it. We opted for muffins instead of loaves to make serving easier.

Surprisingly, we were able to throw these muffins together in about 5o minutes total. Our food processor allowed us to grate the zucchini in no time, and the batter was extremely simple to mix after that. As soon as we sampled the raw mixture, we knew that these would be as delicious as we had hoped. It had such a perfect sweet and spicy combination that honestly think I could have eaten the entire batter bowl plain. Once baked, the texture was great and I think that everyone loved the way that they tasted. We added the optional chocolate chips and used apple pie spice because we were out of nutmeg, but I really wouldn’t change anything from the original recipe, which I’m posting below.

P.S. We’ve been making muffins and cupcakes like crazy lately, but they’ll be more variety soon!
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (or olive, but we used vegetable)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional, we didn’t do this)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350, and line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk eggs together, then add oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add chocolate chips or nuts to dry mixture. Pour dry mixture into wet mixture, and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into muffin cups, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until inserted knife comes out clean. Cool and serve.

This post is bittersweet — and not because of the ridiculous quantities of chocolate in the recipe. For our wonderful friend Lara’s birthday, we baked her mint chocolate cupcakes and a gorgeous dulce de leche ice cream cake. The cake had layers of dulce de leche ice cream and raspberry sorbet, with an almond graham cracker crust and sugary strawberries on top. We bought our first spring-form pan for the occasion, and produced a perfectly striped and delicious creation. Here’s the bitter part: We have no pictures. I’m devastated, but Alex says it’s sometimes good to not blog what we make to ensure that the process remains organic and not internet-driven. I think the fact that I’m this saddened means that he is correct.

The sweet news is that we made some knock-out mint chocolate cupcakes that we did remember to photograph. The recipe is inspired completely by Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit, and we took the mint ganache and mint icing directly from her blog. The cupcakes included in this recipe looked a tad too rich for our tastes, however, and we instead went with a basic chocolate cupcake recipe from Baking Bites.

Though these cupcakes were relatively time-consuming (we made the icing first, then the cupcakes themselves, then the ganache), they were well worth it. I personally thought they tasted incredible, and I think that others agreed. My favorite component was the subtle peppermint buttercream icing, though the package itself is unbeatable. These are definitely rich, so be prepared to split them.

Because there are so many components, I’m going to post the recipes and ingredients in sections. Happy Birthday, Lara! We love you.

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, very soft
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup warm milk

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Alternate adding flour and milk. Pour batter into tins, and bake for 15-17 minutes until knife comes out clean. Cool.

Chocolate-Mint Ganache
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup and 1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves (or more for garnish)
1 tbsp butter

Chop chocolate and place in heat proof bowl. Heat cream and 1/4 cup mint until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream through strainer, over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute, then stir until combined. Add butter and tbsp mint and combine. Cool then refrigerate to thicken for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Mint Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

Beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl. Add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and peppermint extract, then beat until combined. Add more sugar if necessary.

Assembly
Once the cupcakes have cooled, use a knife to cut a cone shape out of the top of each. Fill each muffins with about a tsp of ganache, then cut of the tip of the cone and place it back on the cupcake. Ice and serve, garnished with a small mint leaf.

…Because we are moving to New York!

It’s strange for me to sometimes write about personal things on a recipe blog. Many people who read this know us, and are therefore aware of our life updates. But we’ve also made so many friends in the blogopshere with whom we want to share our news. So if you know us, just scroll to the recipe.

Back to the excitement: After graduating in May, we are moving to NYC, where Alex will attend medical school at Mount Sinai, and I will attend law school at Columbia. We’re super happy, as both of our first-choice schools are just a few blocks (and two parks) away from each other. The best part is that Two Fat Als will live on — though we’ll have to change the tag line from “cooking in college” to “cooking in graduate school” or “cooking under stress” or something. Suggestions are welcome.

To celebrate, we’ve baked ourselves some big apple muffins, loosely based on this recipe. We even invested in an extra-large muffin pan for the occasion. These big apple muffins are kind of like the apple cinnamon swirl muffins that we made earlier, but they’re bigger and better and have walnuts and a strudel topping. Deliciously moist with a good crunchy topping, these muffins are surely a sign of good things to come.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups shredded apple
1/2 cup chopped apples
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cups walnuts

(strudel topping)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin pan with muffin cups. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium-sized bowl. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla. Stir in apples and walnuts. Slowly stir in flour mixture until just combined. To make strudel topping, use your fingers to mix the ingredients until it feels coarse. Spoon batter into muffin cups, and sprinkle strudel on top. Cook for about 18 minutes for regular-sized muffins, or about 20-25 minutes for larger muffins.

As mentioned earlier, we try to cook for holidays with a blind eye toward their religious affiliations (or lack thereof). But because Easter slipped past us last year, I admit that this marks my first attempt baking for the holiday. Originally, I wanted to go all out — cupcakes with coconut nests and chocolate eggs. After some experimenting, however, it seemed too much, and we settled for just the eggs. It was a good thing too, given the already intensely rich creaminess of the icing, paired with the deliciously coconut almond chocolate cakes.

In a word, these cupcakes were decadent. We designed them specifically for Alex’s dad, a full-blown chocoholic, and I think they contain more chocolate than any item we’ve baked before. But though they didn’t contain the lightness of a Spring day, they looked just as beautiful, and tasted as lovely as anything. The cake (thankfully) wasn’t overly sweet, so it complimented the icing perfectly. We found the recipes for both the cake and the frosting on Epicurious, and since I wouldn’t change a thing for either one, I won’t bother reposting them. Just pop three Cadbury Mini-Eggs on each, and serve.