Recently I’ve had a couple of interviews where I’ve been asked about how I got started baking. It’s been fun to reflect on the journey I’ve been taking with food over my life and I thought I’d share a little with you! I grew up loving food, but it wasn’t until we moved to Japan that my love turned from just eating to creating. I love meat, carbs and sweets (my three food groups) and Japan isn’t big on baked goods. In fact almost no one even owns an oven!

So after a month or two without an oven I realized just how much I relied on one, and how much I missed it. That and the bread’s and sweets over there are very light and airy and I was missing my DENSE, filling breads. SO for my birthday we bought a microwave/oven (not a microwave oven, but a microwave that is also an oven, pretty cool, huh – just larger than a traditional microwave). ANYWAY I immediately started googling recipes and baking my little heart out. One of the very first things I made was my favorite lunch item, bagels! This very recipe to be exact!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bagels

making homemade bagels is easier than you think and they are so delicious

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 5

1 40

Total Time: 2 10

Servings: bagels

Calories: 191kcal

Author: Ashlee Marie

Ingredients

1 3/8 C water warmed to 112
2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 C bread flour
1 C mini chocolate chips frozen
corn meal

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place water, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl and let bloom for 10 mins
Add the oil, honey, salt, cocoa and 2 C bread flour and mix until the dough is cohesive
add the rest of the flour 1/2 C at a time (mixing well in between) until the dough cleans the sides of the mixing bowl.
Knead until the dough has a great stretch wthout ripping
Place in a greased bowl and let it rise for about an hour, until doubled in size
punch down and mix in frozen mini chips (mix in quickly so they don't melt)
Divide into 16 3 oz balls
Poke a hole in the center and spread the dough into a wide circle
place on a baking sheet sprayed with non stick spray
Let the bagels rise for another 30 mins
bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and boil the bagels for 30 seconds
place on a backing tray sprinkled with cornmeal
Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 mins (if your baking both tray's at once rotate them about 12 mins in)

Video

Nutrition

Did you make this recipe?Mention @ashleemariecakes or tag #makesomeawesome and I'll share your image in my Instagram stories!

A ton of my recipes are actually from my Japan days, as I mixed and matched recipes I found and started recreating food I craved and missed. A lot are already here – spinach dip, alfredo sauce. But some I haven’t made in years, but now I’m re inspired, and you’ll probably see a lot of basic baking as I reminisce a bit! Garlic and cheddar bagels, homemade tortillas, Classic white bread, homemade egg nog, etc…