You found it, the babka of your dreams: cookie butter babka. A sweetened enriched dough, stuffed with cookie butter and topped with a cinnamon glaze and biscoff cookie bits. It is so good, and feels like a fantastic slice of dessert.
I was inspired to make my own cookie butter babka when I saw a friend create a version. Matt’s Speculoos Cinnamon Bun Babka (which is also plant based) looked fantastic and I knew I wanted to make something similar. Mine, is NOT vegan so if that is something that appeals to you please make his. We also take a bit of different approaches to making these but I think they are probably equally delicious.
What is a cookie butter babka?
If you’ve never had a babka, it’s a sweetened dough with filling. The dough is rolled thinly and the filling is spread on then rolled up. The dough is then split in half and twisted. The result is a beautiful swirls of filling on top and when the loaf is cut open. You can also find some of my other babkas here: Milk Bread Chocolate Babka and Tangy Lemon Babka.
I think most of us are familiar with cookie butter these days, but speculoos cookies are a Belgian cookie that is sort of like a more cinnamon spiced graham cracker. They are absolutely delightful.
Cookie Butter Babka Key Ingredients
- Cookie Butter – Cookie butter is clearly important as it is the filling. Microwaving it for a few seconds will help it make it more spreadable. I use the Biscoff version but other brands, like Trader Joe’s will work too.
- Biscoff Cookies – There aren’t any cookies in the filling or dough, however the crumble on top adds more flavor and I think the perfect crunch texture to the bread.
- Bread Flour – Bread flour helps give babka a little more structure and chew without sacrificing softness.
Ingredients
- 280 g Bread flour 2¼ cup
- 7 g Instant yeast 2 tsp
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 25 g Granulated sugar 2 tbsp
- 1 large Egg room temperature
- 120 g Whole or 2% milk ½ cup, warmed (105°F)
- 56 g Unsalted butter 4 tbsp, softened
Filling + Topping
- 120 g Cookie butter warmed
- 2-4 Biscoff cookies crumbled
- ½ cup Powdered sugar
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tbsp Milk
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with dough hook attached, add flour, yeast, salt, sugar, egg, and warm milk and mix on low until dough comes together.
- Add softened butter 1 tbsp at a time, letting the butter be kneaded into the dough before adding the next. Repeat until all butter has been added.
- Allow dough to be kneaded until smooth and elastic.
- Remove dough from bowl, and shape into a ball. Lightly grease your bowl and replace dough into the bowl, covering and letting rise in a warm space.
- Let dough proof for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough, and place on your workspace. Place your cookie butter in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds to thin it slightly and make it easily spread.
- Roll the dough out to roughly 10×14 and spread out your cookie butter over the dough, leaving a half inch border along the edges.
- Roll your dough up from the short edge, pinching and sealing the edge when finished.
- Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut your dough log in half lengthwise, leaving two long sections with the interior of the dough exposed.
- Make an x with your dough and twist the dough around itself making a spiral.
- Place your dough into a parchment lined 8.5 by 4.5 inch loaf pan. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for another 30-60 minutes.
- While your dough is proofing, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- When your dough has finished it's second proof (loaf should have puffed up a bit) place on the center rack of your oven and bake for about 30 minutes. A thermometer inserted should read at least 180°F and bread should be golden brown.
- Remove bread from loaf pan and onto a wire rack to cool.
- After your bread has cooled for at least an hour, prepare your glaze.In a small bowl, add powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk and whisk together. Glaze should be thick but ribbon off a spoon or whisk when lifted.
- Pour or drizzle your glaze over the bread, then sprinkle crushed biscoff cookies over. Alow your glaze to set and bread to be fully cooled before slicing in. Enjoy!
