Chocolate Babka

    Holiday baking is upon us, and I couldn't be happier.  Every year, my mom and I bake holiday cookies to give to friends and family; I love choosing the assortment.  Twisted candy canes, orange balls, snickerdoodles, hello dollies, nut crescents, iced sugar cookies in holiday shapes, jam filled cookies, cream cheese bars, white chocolate popcorn, peanut brittle, chocolate hazelnut sandwich cookies....the list could go down the page.
     However, this Christmas will be the first year I can't go home to Oklahoma.  Between needing nearly two days of travel and it being the busiest time of year at the restaurant, getting home for the holidays just doesn't work out. I've been feeling pretty down about it.  My family has a lot of Christmas traditions that make the celebration last for days, and I hate thinking about missing it all.  My favorite brunch with Papa's chocolate milkshakes, covering the house with decorations, playing Dirty Santa with 30 people, Christmas poppers with paper crowns, food, food, and more food, candlelight Christmas Eve service, eating grilled cheese and tomato soup in our Christmas Eve pajamas in front of our Christmas Eve movie, kids showing off their new toys, nonstop Christmas music on the radio, my mom's stockings (expertly stuffed, by the way) that she has sewn by hand for all her kids and grandkids, and the soft clicks of my father's endless picture taking. 
     Well, if there is one thing I can do here on my own to make things more festive, it's baking Christmas treats.  I'm working on my list of choices, and I've told my favorite people here to put in their requests.  If anyone has their own favorite holiday cookie or family baking tradition and would like to share the recipe with me, I'd love to try it. Our small kitchen will soon become a cookie factory.  It works out nicely that we have two stand mixers and a hand mixer; I just need some more counter space! 
      No cookie production until after I eat plenty of pumpkin pie, but I kicked off the season o' baking with chocolate babka.  A popular Hanukkah dessert, this yeast dough is rolled out, covered in chocolate and/or cinnamon, rolled back up, twisted, and topped with streusel.  A version came through the test kitchen during my last week at Cooking Light, and I've had a hankering for it since.  It was only right that I give it a go when this month's holiday issue arrived with that chocolate babka recipe among the pages.  Now, I use the term dessert, but the chocolaty bread is perfect warm with coffee, and it is frankly well-suited to all hours of the day.  The chocolate and fat are definitely scaled back in the CL recipe, which is nice considering my lack of self control, but I of course want to make the butter laden, oozing chocolate variety now.
     The way the dough is twisted and shaped in the pan creates an ever-changing swirl of chocolate filling throughout the loaf. Both beautiful and delicious; chocolate babka makes for a great holiday gift.  Mine has stayed at home, but I'll soon have cookies to share!

Here is a recipe from another blog I enjoy:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/09/mmm-bab-bee-bab-ka/