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İzmir Bombası

The filling goes in frozen, which is the only way the outside bakes crisp while the centre stays liquid.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

the filling

the dough

to finish

Method

  1. THE FILLING GOES IN FROZEN, and that is the only way the outside bakes crisp while the centre stays liquid. Teaspoons of chocolate spread are dropped onto a lined tray and put in the freezer for two hours until they are hard balls. Those balls are then wrapped in the raw dough and baked. A frozen centre takes most of the bake just to come back to liquid, so the dough around it has time to set and colour while the middle never gets hot enough to boil, bubble out or dry. Wrapped around soft spread straight from the jar, it melts in the first three minutes, finds the seam, and runs out onto the tray -- which is how this goes wrong and it goes wrong completely.
  2. THE DOUGH IS SEALED ALL ROUND WITH NO SEAM LEFT THIN. The ball is flattened in the palm, the frozen centre set in, and the dough brought up and pinched closed, then rolled smooth between the hands so no join shows. Any thin spot is where it will burst.
  3. IT IS BAKED HOT AND SHORT. 190°C for twelve to fourteen minutes. The outside has to set fast, before the centre catches up. A long moderate bake gives the heat time to reach the middle, and then the filling is hot, thin and looking for a way out.
  4. THEY ARE LEFT ON THE TRAY FOR FIVE MINUTES AND NOT MOVED. Straight out, the shell is still soft and the inside is molten, and lifting one splits it. Five minutes on the tray sets the base enough to move them.
  5. THE COCOA IS WHAT MAKES THE DARK VERSION AND IT CHANGES NOTHING ELSE. Two tablespoons into the same dough. The common pairing is a dark shell with a white chocolate centre, or a plain shell with the hazelnut spread -- the contrast is the whole idea, so one or the other, not both dark.
  6. Teaspoons of chocolate spread dropped onto a lined tray and FROZEN 2 HOURS, until hard.
  7. The butter and sugar beaten pale, then the egg and milk beaten in.
  8. The flour, baking powder, salt and -- for the dark version -- the cocoa FOLDED in to a soft dough.
  9. Chilled 30 MINUTES.
  10. Divided into 16. Each flattened in the palm.
  11. ONE FROZEN BALL set in the centre, the dough brought up, PINCHED CLOSED and rolled smooth so no seam shows.
  12. Set well apart on lined trays.
  13. Baked at 190°C for 12 to 14 MINUTES, until just firm.
  14. LEFT ON THE TRAY 5 MINUTES before moving.
  15. Dusted with icing sugar.
  16. TESTED: broken open warm, the centre should be liquid and the shell crisp. Filling on the tray means the spread went in unfrozen or a seam was thin.
  17. Best the day they are made, warm.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes