The perfect weekend breakfast, these crisp, buttery babka buns have a rich chocolate and pistachio filling that will have you licking your fingers in sheer delight!

I’ll apologise now for this photo heavy post – the shaping of the babka buns is really NOT difficult but like these Chocolate Orange Twists it IS a little difficult to explain using just words.

Like any yeasted bread creation the whole process can take a little time.  But I enjoy that.  Pottering around while the bread does its thing.  And of course, getting fresh baked anything is always worth it!  And oh boy are these buns worth the wait!  They’re like a cross between a bread roll and a Danish pastry – full of rich chocolatey flavour and crunchy nuts.

If you’ve followed us for a while, you’ll know how much we love nuts.  ALL nuts.  With maybe pistachios and cashews edging ahead just a little.  So you can imagine how happy we were to be sent a lovely selection from POM Wonderful – some spicy, some plain roasted and a bottle of their quite lovely Pomegranate juice.

How to make babka buns

First up you’ll need to make the chocolate filling – it takes a while to set and you need it set so you can spread it on the rolled out dough.  I hadn’t realised just how long it would take to set the first time I made these and had to dance between the fridge and the freezer as my dough was ready to be rolled and shaped!

If you do need to speed up the process don’t leave in the fridge or freezer for too long or it will become hard and unspreadable.

Make sure to vigorously knead the dough for a good 5-10 minutes.  This stretches the gluten and allows the yeast to make the dough puff up.

The dough needs 2 proves, once as just a ball of dough and the second once the babka buns have been shaped.  Dependent on how warm your ambient temperature is your dough can take anything up to an hour to properly prove.  You want the dough doubled in size.  This allows all those lovely air pockets to form giving the final baked product that unique texture.

After the first prove you’ll then roll it out into a large rectangle before spreading with the chocolate paste and sprinkling with the chopped nuts.

The dough is then folded over itself creating a giant sandwich.  Doing it this way helps save time and effort rolling and spreading each bun individually.

The folded dough is then cut into strips before taking each strip, twisting into a spiral shape while gently stretching it lengthwise and tying into a rough knot shape.  I’m not gonna lie, this bit is messy and you’ll probably end up with chocolate smeared up your arms.  And across your spectacles in my case.  Don’t ask.

The babka buns are then left to prove a second (and final) time before baking to golden, crispy perfection.

Now don’t panic.  Some of the chocolate filling WILL ooze out and make a bit of a mess on the tray.  This is expected because we’re using chocolate and butter – but it makes THE richest, stickiest, unctuous, lick ALL the fingers filling.

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