Halloween is approaching and I couldn’t resist trying the Black Burgers or Black Hamburgers. In fact, I tried them at the ‘The Magic of Budapest’ restaurant, a charming and magical place, and since I always try to recreate the recipes I try during my travels, I couldn’t resist trying these. In reality, you can use activated charcoal or black cocoa for this recipe. I used the latter, but let’s see together how to make these black burgers in the following recipe.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 8 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 9
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Halloween, All seasons
Ingredients
- 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup black cocoa (or activated charcoal)
- 2 tsp yeast
- 7 oz milk
- 3 1/2 oz water (lukewarm)
- 3 1/2 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp milk
- as needed sesame seeds
Tools
- 1 Stand mixer
- 1 Parchment paper
- 1 Baking sheet
- 9 Toothpicks for appetizers
Steps
Start by pouring flour and cocoa or activated charcoal into the stand mixer and mix. Then, in a bowl, crumble the yeast and add the milk, lukewarm water, butter, and sugar; mix and let everything dissolve. Then turn on the stand mixer and add the liquid mixture until you have a homogeneous dough.
At this point, let the dough rise covered with a dry cloth until it doubles in size, which will take at least 2-3 hours.
After this time, form balls of 3 oz each, place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, and let them rise again until doubled, which will take at least another 3 hours.
After this time, beat the egg yolk and add 2 tablespoons of milk, then brush your black burgers and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated oven at 355°F for about 30 minutes. Once you have taken them out, let your black burgers cool well before cutting and stuffing them.
Here are your black burgers ready to be filled. Of course, you can fill them with classic hamburger fillings like ground beef, sliced tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese, and various sauces, as seen in the picture above, served with sweet potato fries. Or the vegetarian version you see below with mozzarella, tomato, lettuce, and avocado. Fill them as you like, they are delicious in every version.
And here I am in Budapest at The MAGIC restaurant where I tried the Black Hamburgers for the first time, the atmosphere was truly magical.
If you are looking for more Halloween dinner ideas, I recommend my
Saby recommends…
If you want to make mini black burgers, make 1.5 oz dough balls and let them rise for at least an hour longer.
