Babas Infused with Limoncello

Recipe by: Lidia Bastianich | from Lidia's Italy

Cookstr

Course: Dessert

Total Time: Under 2 Hours

Skill Level: Moderate

Cost: Moderate

Photo by: Joseph De Leo

Babà al rhum is a favorite dessert in Naples, found in most pasticcerie, filled with whipped cream, or crema pasticciera (custard cream), or cannoli cream—or just oozing with syrup. In this recipe, I give you a limoncello syrup to soak the babas, and you can fill them with ice cream or whipped cream.

Yield: Makes 12 to 16 small babas

INGREDIENTS

1 package (2 teaspoons) dry yeast
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ pound (1 stick) butter, softened, plus more for the bowl and molds

For the syrup:

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cups sugar
1 cup limoncello

Recommended equipment:

A food processor fitted with the metal blade
Baba molds or mini cake molds

Directions

To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl and let it sit for several minutes to start to bubble. Put the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of the food processor, and run the machine for a few seconds to blend the dry ingredients.

Mix the beaten eggs with the dissolved yeast. With the food processor running, pour all the liquid into the flour, and process for 20 seconds or so. A stiff dough will gather on the blade and clean the sides of the bowl. Now drop in the soft butter, and process for another 20 to 30 seconds, until it is fully incorporated. Turn the soft dough out, knead by hand briefly to form a smooth round, and drop it into a lightly buttered bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise for 30 minutes or so—it does not need to double.

Butter the baba molds. Deflate the dough, and cut it into twelve equal pieces (about 2 ounces each). Roll each piece into a round, and place dough in the molds to fill them two-thirds full. Let the babas expand to fill the molds, about 30 minutes or more.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400°, arranging two racks if necessary. Bake the babas for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are dark gold on top; shift the pans on the racks for even baking. Turn them out of the pans, and cool.

To make the syrup, bring 3 cups water, the lemon juice, and the sugar to a full boil in a wide pot; add the limoncello, and boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, and immediately push as many babas as will fit into the hot syrup, weighting with a plate or pot cover to keep them submerged. When they have soaked up enough syrup to expand, in about 10 minutes, remove them from the pot, and drain on a wire rack set over a dish. If you have more babas to soak, heat the syrup to the boil again, then submerge another batch.

Serve the soaked babas within a short time, or set them, sitting in a shallow layer of syrup, in a pan to stay moist. For serving, slice them in half lengthwise, and spoon in your filling. If you like, drizzle some warm syrup over the top.