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These Greek yogurt bagels with a babka-inspired filling of cinnamon, sugar, and chocolate are delicious served for breakfast with coffee or as an after school snack.
Babka-Inspired Bagels
Babka is a sweet cake-like bread developed by Polish and Ukrainian Jews many years ago. It’s sort of a cross between a cinnamon roll and sweet egg bread. I decided to try babka’s amazing flavor combo (cinnamon, sugar, and chocolate) with my Easy Bagel Recipe, and it was a hit, especially with the kids! For more healthy bagel recipes, try my Stuffed Bagel Balls, Protein Bagels with Cottage Cheese, and Everything Bagel Pigs in a Blanket.
Babka Bagel Ingredients
- Cinnamon and Sugar for the filling and topping
- Flour: Use all-purpose, whole-wheat, or gluten-free flour, like Bob’s Red Mill. You’ll need one cup, but if you have a kitchen scale, you can weigh it for the most precise measurement. It should weigh five ounces.
- Baking Powder: Ensure your baking powder is not expired, so it’ll rise.
- Salt: I use kosher salt, which has bigger crystals. If you use table salt, use less.
- Greek Yogurt: You want thick, non-fat Greek yogurt, like Stonyfield or Fage. If there’s any liquid, drain it first. Regular yogurt won’t work because it’ll be too sticky.
- Egg: Beat one egg or egg white and use it as egg wash.
- Chocolate Chips: Use mini semisweet chocolate chips for the filling.
How to Make Bagels
- Cinnamon Sugar: Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place parchment paper and spray with oil to prevent the bagels from sticking. You can also use a silpat.
- Make the Bagel Dough: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix in the yogurt with a fork or spatula until it resembles small crumbles.
- Knead the Dough: Lightly dust a work surface with flour and knead the dough a few times until it’s tacky but not sticky. There should be no dough on your hands when you pull them away.
- Stuff the Bagels: Divide the dough into four equal balls. Roll each ball into ¾-inch ropes about seven inches long. Press the rope flat, brush it lightly with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and mini chocolate chips. Press the chips lightly into the dough. Bring the outer sides of the smashed rope up and over to close it over the filling. Join the ends to form a bagel. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Topping: Brush the tops of the bagels with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar.
- Bake the Bagels on the top oven rack for 25 to 28 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
Variations
- Egg-Free: The egg wash gives the bagels a pretty golden color, but if you’re allergic, omit it.
- Dairy-Free: Substitute the yogurt with a thick, dairy-free Greek yogurt, like Kite Hill’s plain unsweetened yogurt and dairy-free chocolate chips.
- Sticky Dough? Add more flour.
- Not a chocolate fan? Skip the chips and just use the cinnamon sugar.
How to Store Bagels
- Store leftover bagels on the counter for one day or in the refrigerator for up to three days. Eat them at room temperature or warm them in the toaster, oven, or air fryer.
- To freeze, slice the bagels and wrap them individually with foil or plastic wrap for up to three months. Reheat them from frozen or thaw them in the fridge.
More Bread Recipes You’ll Love
Babka-Inspired Bagels
These Greek yogurt bagels with a babka-inspired filling of cinnamon, sugar, and chocolate are delicious served as a treat for breakfast with coffee or as dessert.
Yield: servings
Serving Size: 1 bagel
Ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour, whole wheat or gluten-free mix* (5 ounces in weight)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder, make sure it’s not expired or it won’t rise
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, use less if using table salt
- 1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt, not regular yogurt, it will be too sticky (Stonyfield or Fage)
- 1 large egg white or whole egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Place parchment paper or a silpat on a baking sheet. If using parchment paper, spray with oil to avoid sticking.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk well.
- Add the yogurt and mix with a fork or spatula until well combined, it will look like small crumbles.
- Lightly dust flour on a work surface and remove dough from the bowl, knead the dough a few times until dough is tacky, but not sticky, about 15 turns (it should not leave dough on your hand when you pull away).
- Divide into 4 equal balls. Lightly dust the work surface again then roll each ball into 3/4-inch-thick ropes, about 7 inches long. Press the rope flat, brush very lightly with egg wash, sprinkle each with ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon and sugar mixture and top with slightly less than 1 teaspoon mini chips.
- Press the chocolate chips lightly into the dough then bring the outer sides of the smashed rope up and over to close over the stuffing. Join the ends to form bagels.
- Brush the tops of each bagel with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture.
- Bake on the top rack of the oven for 25-28 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cool at least 15 minutes before cutting.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Serving: 1 bagel, Calories: 158 kcal, Carbohydrates: 30 g, Protein: 5 g, Fat: 2 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 47 mg, Sodium: 473 mg, Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 5 g
I made these gluten free with 1-1 flour. Yummy! Thanks for all your recipes.
These are delicious but I find it time consuming to stuff them. Would it work to just mix the chocolate chips and cinnamon/sugar into the dough?
Can I substitute cottage cheese for the yogurt?
I made these as a fun healthy snack for my kids and they were a hit. The only problem I ran into was that after I patted them out and put the cinnamon sugar and chocolate on top, they were kind of sticky and crumbly when I tried to seal them. Should I try adding a little more flour? I used white whole what flour.
I had made your other bagel recipe and it was delicious. So I had to try these too. Excellent flavor. Not too hard to make. They toasted up nicely after being refrigerated. A great sweet treat!
Just made these and loved how simple and tasty they were! Will definitely make them again. My dough was still a little sticky, but they turned out just fine
Probably operator error, but when I rolled them out, a 3/4” top was more like 12”. Also, I didn’t realize the stuffing was supposed to be completely enclosed. All in all good, but a lot of work for 4 bagels 😜
This was out of this world. So easy and so delicious.
So delicious!! Dough came together very easily. Love this recipe! Will be in the regular rotation
This was fantastic! My family loved the bages for breakfast.
Great!!
SO good! Great for a sweet, guiltless, breakfast treat! I’ve made the bagel dough a number of times before. Thank you for the easy to follow instructions for stuffing them. Worked perfectly! Now I’m wondering what else I can stuff these bagels with!! Has anyone tried blueberries??
Gina’s recipes never dissapoint! Delicious!
Made yesterday and this was a huge hit! We will put this into the rotation especially when we’re craving something sweet for breakfast!
These sound amazing!!! I can’t wait to try them! I love the bagel recipe for a savory everything bagel, but this takes it to the next level!!!
What can i use in place of the cinnamon? I have a household member who is allergic.
Something like allspice, or a mix of clove and ginger?
Perhaps cardamon and nutmeg?
Commercial allspice could have cinnamon, which you are trying to avoid.
Does it work to use an air fryer?
Yum!
These look delicious! How can I make these gluten free? Just use gluten free flour? Do I need to change anything else?
Use cup4cup flour, it comes out best in the air fryer.