Cranberry Walnut Bagels – Homemade bagels filled with cranberries and chopped walnuts. Grab some cream cheese and dig in!

Cranberry Walnut Bagels

Since I was little, my mom and I would go and get bagels every weekend.  It was always so much fun and we looked forward to it all week! My favorite were blueberry bagels and hers were cranberry walnut bagels.

For Mother’s Day this year, I decided to change things up and make Cranberry Walnut Bagels right at home! I hadn’t made bagels for many years so it was a fun, new experience for us to try together!

We were so happy with how these bagels ended up turning out.  The bagels were delicious and much simpler than I expected! It was the perfect Mother’s Day treat for my mother and it brought back so many good memories of our bagel trips together!

 Now these bagels are pretty easy to make.  You just make the dough, let it rise, boil the bagels, and bake them.  That’s it! If you don’t like cranberries or walnuts, you can easily use a different dried fruit (like dried blueberries or raisins).

Common Questions About Making Bagels

Do you have to boil homemade bagels?

Yes, boiling bagels is what gives them at signature chewy exterior.  Without boiling the bagels, you simply have pieces of bread on your hands.

What should I boil bagels in?

So there is a lot of debate around this question as everyone seems to have a favorite thing to boil their bagels in.  The main camps are the baking soda/lye group or the honey/ barley malt syrup/sugar group.  Any of these things works perfectly well to boil bagels in so it comes down to preference.  To put it simply, lye/baking soda will produce a bagel closer to a pretzel while honey/barley malt syrup/sugars will help the bagel caramelize in the oven.  There is more nitty gritty science behind all of them and the types of reacitons they cause so if you are interested, go do some reading! Barley malt syrup is popular in a lot of bakeries but it’s typically not something a home cook has on hand so I lean towards preferring honey for it’s ease of access, the slight taste it lends bagels, and affordability.  Feel free to try experimenting with different methods of boiling and see which you prefer.

Can I use whole wheat flour?

At most you can substitute in 50% whole wheat flour into the recipe without having to make any other changes.  Please don’t use any more because it will impact the hydration of the bagels and potentially mess them up.

What does the egg wash do?

Egg wash helps to give the bagels a nice golden color.

What types of homemade bagels can I make?

Any kind you see at a bagel shop can be made at home! Some of my favorite versions to make are –

• Plain Bagels
• Asiago Bagels
• Everything Bagels
• Salt Bagels
• Poppy Seed Bagels
• Blueberry Bagels
• Sesame Seed Bagels

What can I put on bagels?

So apart from basic cream cheese or butter, you can get fancy and try some of these toppings –

• Jam – blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry are my favorites.
• Peanut butter
• Apple butter
• Goat cheese

Looking for more breakfast recipes? Check these out!

• Homemade Bagels
• Baked Vanilla Donuts
• Strawberry Rhubarb Scones
• Peach French Toast

Yield: 8

Cranberry Walnut Bagels

Print

Homemade bagels filled with cranberries and chopped walnuts. Grab some cream cheese and dig in!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 package instant dry yeast
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 + 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine yeast, ½ water, and 1 tbsp sugar. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. While that is sitting, combine flour, salt, and remaining sugar in a large bowl or stand mixer. Stir to combine.
3. Pour in yeast mixture and remaining water and mix until a dough is formed. Pour in walnuts and cranberries and continue to mix until fully combined.
4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes.
5. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
6. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and fill a large pot 2/3 of the way up with water and bring to a simmer, not a boil.
7. Move dough back to lightly floured surface and punch down dough. Let sit for 20 more minutes.
8. Split dough into 8 evenly sized pieces and roll into a ball. Poke a hole in the middle of each piece of dough with your finger and work on spreading the hole so it has a width of about 1 inch. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let rise 20 minutes.
9. Transfer bagels to pot of water with a slotted spoon for 1-2 minutes (they should float). Do it in two batches, 4 at a time so they aren’t over crowded.
10. Transfer bagels back to baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook for 18-20 minutes or until the top is slightly brown.

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