I just made this and it's in the oven so I can't comment on the deliciousness of it yet, but I'll post photos to Instagram and comment there. I am an experienced baker (especially bread), have made chocolate babka before, though not this recipe. My observations: 1. You better have a dishwasher because I had every surface in my kitchen covered. I have a fairly large island and I dirtied so may bowls for butter melting, cutting boards for chopping nuts and chocolate chips (not an easy task), bowls for mixing the filling and the topping and the egg wash. You also need a large surface to roll this out, 18" to 20". I usually wash as I go along but that didn't happen here as there was so much stuff in use and reuse. Maybe a minor detail but knowing is better than not knowing. There are many many steps and some of them could have been consolidated, like the multiple butter meltings for instance. 2. Some of the steps are not clear if you've not done this before. "Shape each piece of dough into a 9" x 18" rectangle" is not as easy as it sounds. The dough is quite stretchy and if this is your first time doing this you'll need to let each piece rest, then and roll out or shape in stages. I used a rolling pin for most of it. 3. The chocolate butter filling is very thick and hard to spread. I ended up having not nearly enough for my first loaf and had to repeat the filling to fill the next loaf. It may need more butter so that it is more spreadable. I used mine as soon as I mixed the melted butter with the chocolate and the espresso and it was like mud. Both times, so I didn't mis-measure. 4. I would advise not using the regular size chocolate chips. They are too large and don't stay on the dough well. Chopping them is an extra step and creates more dirty dishes (food processor or knife and cutting board). I'd grate a large chuck of chocolate next time, or use the mini chips as suggested.

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