The details
One of my favorite brunch recipes is Christina Tosi’s recipe for bagel bombs from Momofuku Milk Bar. People are always so impressed by this bake–a savory cream cheese center wrapped in salty dough– but honestly it is pretty easy to put together! My favorite bagel is blueberry (sorry, bagel purists out there) and this is my very own take on the bagel bomb. I love these Double Blueberry Bagel Bombs for breakfast, snack, whatever. The blueberry flavor comes through in both the cream cheese filling and the dough. It is slightly sweet but not overkill. Like your favorite bagel, the dough has some squishy chew to it. Take a bite and you’ll find it’s bursting with the most delicious blueberry cream cheese. I could eat it by the spoonful. Let’s be honest, these guys are not the most photogenic, but they are very, very tasty.
Ingredients + Process
One important aspect of this recipe is the blueberry compote. I’ve been working on this recipe for some time (bread can be tricky), and I’ve tried it with fresh blueberries. I just came to find the filling and dough lacked that deep, sweet berry flavor that comes from blueberries cooked down. Not to mention the gorgeous purple color the cooked juice imparts. All this to say, it’s definitely worth the extra effort to cook your bloobs down before making either component of this bagel bomb. It makes the bake.
Next, you want to get the dough the right texture. This may come down to the climate of your kitchen. If the dough seems dry and doesn’t come together, try adding some lukewarm water 1 tsp at a time. If it seems like a wet sticky mess, try adding flour by the teaspoon. See my Tips + Tricks page for more details on proofing dough, but I find generally this dough needs a full 2 hours to proof. Luckily, I’ve found no matter what, the dough rises up to a nice ball in the oven.
The process.
- Cook down blueberries
- Mix together blueberry cream cheese & freeze
- Assemble dough and knead
- Allow dough to rise
- Turn out & cut dough
- Assemble bagel bombs
- Egg wash
- Bake & Enjoy!
Bake to this music
Double Blueberry Bagel Bombs
Here’s breakfast in one bite! A blueberry studded bagel dough surrounds a sweet blueberry cream cheese center. So good.
Ingredients
For the blueberry compote:
- 1 1/2 heaping cups fresh blueberries
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
For the cream cheese filling:
- 1/3 cup blueberry compote (see above), room temp
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
- 1 tbsp honey
For the dough:
- 3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for flouring surface
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp active dry yeast (roughly 1/2 a packet)
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- remainder of blueberry compote, strained of juice
- 1 egg + 1 tbsp water for egg wash
Instructions
- Make your blueberry compote. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, cook fresh blueberries and sugar, stirring continuously. Remove from heat once blueberries start to break down, 3-4 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Make blueberry cream cheese. Using a stand mixer or spatula and bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium-high until smooth. Add honey and 1/3 cup blueberry compote and continue mixing until the cream cheese is smooth and purple. Place the whole bowl of blueberry cream cheese into the freezer and chill for 30+ minutes to thicken.
- Once the blueberry cream cheese has chilled to the texture of melty ice cream, remove from freezer. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, scoop 8 similarly sized balls of cream cheese onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place baking sheet into the freezer and freeze until balls are hard, 3+ hours. You can store cream cheese balls for up to 1 month in the freezer in a freezer bag.
- Make your dough. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, salt, yeast, and sugar. Mix to combine. Using a dough hook attachment, mix by hand and slowly add in lukewarm water and strained bluberry compote. Continue mixing by hand until it all comes together as a dry, shaggy mass. Add more flour if mixture appears wet.
- Using the hook attachment on a stand mixer (or kneading with your hands), mix the dough on low for about 5 minutes, until it all comes together into a wet-looking purple ball. It is done kneading when the dough becomes elastic and bounces back slightly when poked. Turn out your dough into a well-oiled bowl, cover, and proof for 1-2 hours until dough has doubled in size. Please see notes about proofing in my Tips + Tricks page. You may store proofed dough in the fridge for a week, just allow it to come to room temp for 1 hour before using.
- Turn out proofed dough onto a well-floured surface. Using a dough cutter, divide the ball of dough into 8 equally sized pieces. Use a kitchen scale if you want it to be precise. Take each piece of dough and flatten to make a pancake about 3 inches in diameter. Take a frozen cream cheese ball and place in the center, folding the dough around it. Pinch the dough together to seal the ball, and place it pinched side down on parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough pieces and cream cheese balls.
- Whisk together egg with water in a small bowl. Brush the egg mixture generously onto the dough balls. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Bagel bombs will be nicely browned and may have a few cream cheese explosions when done. Serve warm or at room temperature. These keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.