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Chocolate Babka

I think it was the first week of the lockdown. My doorbell rang. I hadn’t ordered anything, so I opened the door with caution. Turns out a friend of mine had bought Easter breads (flavored with mastic & mahlab) for her close-knit group of friends from a favorite bakery of mine in İstanbul, called Üstün Palmie. And I was one of those lucky recipients. It came to my door still warm from the bakery and I’ve been obsessed with baking the best version of it at home ever since. More on that later.

The obsession started with that bread–actually, sweetened and flavored breads are called çörek (pronounced “chö-wreck”) in Turkey–and continued with this wonderful Chocolate Babka, drenched in a dark caramel syrup.

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Tahini and Leblebi Swirl Brownies

Brownie recipes are among the easiest to make gluten-free. As the flour plays no essential role (many recipes have none at all), you can freely substitute it with an array of gluten-free alternatives. I’m sure you’ve seen several versions, but have you tried brownies made with sarı leblebi flour?

Sarı leblebi refers to double-roasted hulled chickpeas (leblebi) that are yellow (sarı). It is a beloved Turkish snack, available at every kuruyemişçi (specialty shop selling dried nuts, seeds, and fruits), sometimes roasted right by the entrance to entice customers with its toasty smell. Roasting the chickpeas twice chars them in spots, giving them an intensely toasty flavor. There is also beyaz (white) leblebi, made from unhulled chickpeas; these go through a different process and aren’t as toasty. Sarı leblebi may be found ground into a flour, but as I always have the snack on hand, I grind the flour at home using a mortar and pestle.

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Blond Chocolate, Tahini and Sesame Truffles

There are quite a few recipes in The Artful Baker that would be perfect for your Thanksgiving table, such as the Peel-to-Stem Apple Pie or the Deeply Pumpkiny Pumpkin Cheesecake, but in case you’re pressed for time or would like your guests to leave with a handmade gift, here’s a great recipe that requires only 15 minutes of active work.

There have been many crazes in the food blogosphere over the last decade, and I am surprised that blond chocolate wasn’t one of them. Technically, blond chocolate is not a designated category. It is essentially caramelized white chocolate, which is nothing new, but Valrhona was the first to produce a stable couverture version. Frédéric Bau, the founder of L’Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona, is the mastermind behind Valrhona Dulcey, the first couverture blond chocolate. It has a toasty, buttery, biscuit-like flavor, with a final hint of salt, akin to a freshly baked croissant dipped in dulce de leche.

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