Recipes from
Alsace-Lorraine

Baba au rhum

• 300 GRAM FLOUR
• 2 EGGS
• 1 TSP YEAST
• 1/2 CUP MILK
• 50 GRAM BUTTER, melted
• 125 GRAM SUGAR
• 100 GRAM PRUNES, chopped
• 2 GLASSES RHUM
• 2 TBSP LEMON JUICE
• 1 CUP CREAM, whipped

• 2 MANGOS, cleaned and cubed
• 1 PAPAYA, cleaned and cubed
• 1/2 MELON, cleaned and cubed
• 50 GRAM DRIED APRICOTS, cut
• 1 CUP CREAM, whipped
• 1 CUP ORANGE JUICE

Mix the flour with the eggs, the milk, the yeast, the butter, the prunes and 50 gram sugar. Knead well and allow the dough to rise 1 hour. Distribute it over 8 muffin forms and allow them to rise another hour. Bake them 25 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. In the meantime, cook the remaining sugar with the lemon juice, one glass of rum and 4 tablespoons of water to a syrup, switch off the heat and add the other glass of rhum. When the babas are done, drizzle the syrup on top and serve with the cream.

The baba came to life in the 18th century. Stanislas Leszczynski, a Polish king and father-in-law to Louis XV, was exiled from his country and discovered this dish in the Lorraine region of France, when he lived there.

Heat the orange juice with the apricots and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow this to cool down. Mix 1 mango with the papaya and the melon. Puree the other mango and mix this with the cream. Pour the orange juice and apricots over the fruits and serve with the mango cream.