Chocolate-Cherry Babka Bread

More About This Recipe

• I remember the wonderful smells of bread baking that came from Grandma’s kitchen. Sometimes it was filled with smells of cinnamon bread, raisin bread, apricot bread or, of course, her chocolate bread. It made any day special. I always wanted to be able to make some of Grandma’s special breads, twisted into beautiful shapes. When I became a teenager, I remember asking my mom if it was hard to make a yeast bread. She just smiled and told me it took lots of practice to really bake yeast bread. That night after everyone was in bed, I came down to the kitchen and found a Pillsbury™ cookbook containing bread recipes. Mom was right—it took me almost all night to make that bread, but I did it. Of course, everyone in the family was surprised to find my puffy little bread sitting on the table in the morning. I really felt so proud that I was finally a bread baker too. When I thought about entering the Pillsbury Bake-Off® Contest, I recalled my Grandma’s babka breads twirled with delicious fillings. I decided to shortcut the dough when I found Pillsbury™ French bread at the store. This made bread baking easy, so I just mixed up some chocolate-cherry filling to swirl around inside. There was no rising and waiting, and it was finished in just 35 minutes in the oven. I spooned some honey topping over it and added pecans for crunch. It was just like Grandma’s breads, only easier. I bet Grandma would be proud of me.