Babeczka – Little Poppy Seed Buns – 3

• Babka is the name of a cake in Polish, which is of a certain shape.
• The name means grandma and the shape is round and dumpy and usually has a hollow centre.
• A small bun or fairy cake can be called a babeczka (babeczki in the plural).
• I have also seen the word mufinka now in Poland.
• *
• One of my very early posts looked at several versions with poppy seeds.
• I now know it is easier to just do 1 or maybe 2 recipes per post.
• So I am posting some of these again. 
• This one is for a sponge recipe with a poppy seed filling.
• I use a cut down version of my usual filling.
• These were made in bun cases – I do not know if they have these in Poland.
• But they make these easy to make and are very portable.
• *
• You need to make the poppy seed filling beforehand and leave it to cool.

INGREDIENTS for the poppy seed filling

• 100g poppy seeds
• 300ml milk
• 2 tablespoons of runny honey
• 1 tablespoon of semolina
• 1 egg yolk

METHOD for the filling

• Put the poppy seeds and milk into a saucepan and simmer then together for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to stop any sticking or burning.
• The aim is to cook the seeds and adsorb as much of the milk as possible.
• You need to watch this carefully and keep adjusting the heat to stop the mixture burning.
• Keep stirring and heating until the milk is absorbed.
• The poppy seeds then need to be crushed, I use a hand held blender for about 5 minutes which I find is the easiest way.
• Once crushed, add the semolina and honey.
• Heat again to remove any excess liquid.
• Leave to cool completely before using.

INGREDIENTS for the sponge

• 2 eggs – weigh them in their shells
• Equal weight of caster, sugar, butter and plain flour.
• Baking powder to match the flour at 1 teaspoon per 100g

METHOD for the sponge

• Cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
• Mix the baking powder with the flour.
• Add the eggs 1 by 1 with a little flour.
• Fold in the rest of the flour.

Putting the buns together

• Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 190° C
• Put the bun cases into a bun tray.
• 12 small buns or 9 large ones
•  
• The next bit is fiddly and it is easier to do them all at once.
• You have to do this by eye –
• 1 tablespoon of sponge at the bottom –
• Around ½ -1 tablespoon of filling next –
• Cover with the rest of the sponge mixture.
• Bake for around 15 – 20 minutes until golden.
• Dust with icing sugar before serving.

They have proved very popular and I often make them for wigilia now.

Option – Lemon icing on the top.