Pistachio-cherry babka with chocolate: yeast wreath for Easter breakfast

You want yeast pastries for Easter – you get yeast pastries for Easter! The airy pistachio and cherry babka with chocolate also tastes good at any other time of the year, but the fruity nut wreath looks particularly good on the breakfast table on Easter Sunday.

We sometimes notice that Easter is just around the corner when the search queries for yeast pastries on the blog suddenly skyrocket. Especially the yeast braids – sometimes with nuts and eggnogwith me lemon and pistachio – get so much attention at this time that fame could go to their heads. They will receive competition this year from one Pistachio Cherry Babka with Chocolate – a sweet filled yeast wreath that has its origins in Eastern European and Jewish cuisine.

The airy Easter pastry comes in many shapes and with different fillings. We are enchanted by the wreath braided with open strands of dough and its fruity, nutty filling. Chopped pistachios and dried cherries peek out from between the layers of dough, along with pieces of chocolate that melt into a creamy texture as it bakes. They ensure that you have to be careful when braiding and shaping the babka so that nothing tumbles out, but they reward you with a crunchy sweet and sour bite. If you don’t manage to eat up the pistachio-cherry babka within two days, you can easily freeze the leftovers and bake them up again later.

Yeast pastries for Easter breakfast – our favorites

Do you want to knead, roll and braid more yeast dough? You can find our favorite yeast braids, pastries and more here:

Pistachio Cherry Babka with Chocolate (Recipe for 1 large wreath)

Adapted from a recipe from Sainsbury’s Magazine

ingredients for the dough

• 50 g Butter
• 200ml milk
• 500 g flour (Type 405) + a little more for rolling out
• 1 packet dry yeast (7 g)
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp salt
• 50 grams of sugar
• 1 He, verquirlt
• neutral oil for greasing

ingredients for the filling

• 60 g butter (room temperature)
• 100 grams of sugar
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 TL Vanilleextrakt
• 1 pinch of salt
• 75g dark chocolate
• 80 g dried sour cherries
• 85 g unsalted pistachio nuts

Further ingredients

• 1 He, verquirlt
• 50 g powdered sugar

preparation

1. For the dough, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the stove, then add the milk.
2. Mix the flour, yeast, cardamom, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, add the beaten egg and the milk mixture and knead with the dough hook of the mixer for about 5 minutes to form a smooth, pliable dough. Remove the dough from the bowl, grease the bowl with a little neutral oil, put the dough back in the bowl and let it rise, covered, in a warm place for about 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, for the filling, mix the butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl until you have a creamy, spreadable mixture. Chop the chocolate, cherries and pistachios into small pieces. Set aside about 1/4 of the cherries and pistachios for garnish. Mix the remaining cherries and pistachios with the chocolate in a small bowl.
4. Knead the risen dough briefly with your hands on a lightly floured work surface, then roll out into a large rectangle (about 35 x 45 cm). Spread the butter-vanilla cream on top, leaving a 2 cm border all the way around. Spread the cherry-pistachio-chocolate mixture evenly on top. Carefully roll up the dough tightly from the bottom long side so that a long strand is formed. Squeeze the open sides together well.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut the strand in half lengthways to create two open strands. Twist both strands tightly together like a braid with the open side facing up, then form into a round wreath, pinching the ends firmly under the wreath. Carefully place the wreath on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and leave covered for a further 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 160°C (circulating air) just before the end of the rising time. Brush the dough (not the filling) with a little beaten egg and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the dough has risen and is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes.
7. Mix the icing sugar with 2-3 teaspoons water in a small bowl until smooth, then use a spoon to spread over the wreath in zigzag motions. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped cherries and pistachios and serve. The wreath tastes best – like all yeast pastries – on the same day. Leftovers freeze well and bake in the oven.