Rainbow bagels with Funfetti cream cheese: How to make them at home

Brilliantly colored bagels are easier to make in your very own kitchen than you might think.

You may have seen those insane, neon-colored rainbow bagels topped with Funfetti cream cheese from Brooklyn and thought, “Dang! I’ve gotta try one of those.” Well, now you can, even if you live nowhere near the Big Apple. We’ve cracked the code.

Read on to find out how you can make this bagel magic happen wherever you are.

To a small bowl or glass measuring cup, add 1/2 cup of warm water. Then add the sugar and yeast. Don’t stir.

Let the yeast mixture sit — remember, no stirring. Set aside until the mixture starts to bubble (about 8 to 10 minutes).

To a large mixing bowl, add the flour and salt. Stir together, and make a “well” in the middle of the flour.

Once the yeast mixture starts to bubble, pour it into the flour mixture.

Using the hook attachment, mix on slow speed. While mixing, slowly add in another cup of warm water.

Add flour to a cutting board, and transfer the dough from the bowl to the cutting board. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Add more flour if the dough becomes too sticky.

Form the dough into an oval shape.

Coat the bottom and sides of a large bowl with a thin layer of canola oil.

Put the dough into the bowl, and top with a damp towel. Set aside for an hour to let it rise.

Once the dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and onto a lightly floured cutting board.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces, and divide up 1 of the smallest pieces to add to the other small pieces so there is a total of 7 pieces.

Put the pieces back into the oil-coated bowl, and cover with a damp cloth.

In 1 of the pieces of dough, make a well, and add the pink food coloring. Using food-grade plastic gloves, work the food coloring into the dough. Use some water to mix the color into the dough. Add a bit of flour so the dough isn’t sticky.

Form each colored dough into a patty, and set it on a large plate. Stack the colored patties on top of one another.

Cover the colored dough patties with a damp paper towel.

Add the food coloring or gel to the pieces of dough 1 at a time.

Continue stacking the colored dough on top of one another.

Slice the dough lengthwise into 4 slices. Twist each piece into a “rope” shape.

Form the rope-shaped dough into the desired bagel size. Firmly roll the ends of the bagel together to form a “ring.” Don’t pinch the ends, or they’ll come undone.

In batches, add the bagels to lightly boiling water, and let cook for 30 seconds on each side.

Transfer the bagels to a rack to drain off the excess water. On a large cookie sheet, lay parchment paper, and lightly coat the paper with cooking spray. Lay the bagels on the cookie sheet, and bake in the oven until the bagels are slightly soft to the touch (about 20 to 25 minutes).

Whisk together cream cheese and powdered sugar until light and creamy.

Stir in the jimmies candy sprinkles.

Serve the bagels warm.

Top with Funfetti cream cheese, and garnish with more jimmies candies.

Rainbow bagels with Funfetti cream cheese recipe

Bagels adapted from What Jew Wanna Eat

Yields 8

Prep time: 40 minutes | Inactive time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Bake time: 25 minutes | Total time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients:

For the bagels

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 cups warm water, divided
• 4 cups bread flour (for the dough)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 teaspoons canola oil (to coat bowl)
• 1 teaspoon each pink, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue and purple food coloring or gel*
• 1 cup bread flour (for use when working with the dough)
• 1 cup water (for use when working with the dough)
• Cooking spray

For the Funfetti cream cheese

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup colored jimmies candy sprinkles (for the cream cheese)
• 2 tablespoons colored jimmies candy sprinkles (for garnish)

Directions:

For the bagels

1. To a small bowl or glass measuring cup, add 1/2 cup of the warm water and sugar. Don’t stir.
2. Add the yeast, and don’t stir. Set aside until the mixture starts to bubble (about 10 minutes).
3. To a large mixing bowl, add the flour and salt. Stir, and make a “well” in the middle.
4. Add the yeast mixture to the well of the bowl with the flour. Use the hook attachment of a stand mixer, and mix on the slow setting.
5. Add the remaining 1 cup of warm water to the mixer, and continue to mix until a dough forms.
6. Sprinkle flour on the rolling surface. Transfer the dough to the rolling surface. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes.
7. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of a large bowl with canola oil, and add the dough.
8. Cover with a damp towel, and set aside for 1 hour to let the dough rise.
9. Punch the dough, and let it rise again for about 10 minutes.
10. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Take some of the dough from the larger pieces to put on the smaller pieces until there are just 7 pieces of dough fairly equal in size. Put the pieces of dough back into the oil-coated bowl, and cover with a damp towel.
11. In 1 of the pieces of dough, make a well, and add the food coloring to it. Using food-grade plastic gloves, knead the piece of dough with your hands until the coloring is evenly spread throughout the piece of dough. Try rubbing a little water on the dough to spread the color while kneading it. Then add a little flour to tighten up the dough so it’s not sticky.
12. Form the colored dough into the shape of a large patty, and lay it on a large plate. Cover with a damp paper towel so the dough doesn’t dry out.
13. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough and food coloring. Stack each colored dough patty on top of the other. Keep the damp paper towel on top of the stack.
14. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
15. Fill a large pot with water, and warm it up on the stove (on low heat for now).
16. Slice the stack of dough lengthwise into 4 slices.
17. Twist each slice so that it’s like a rope. Form a bagel with the twisted dough in the desired size, and firmly roll the ends of the bagel together so that it’s a continuous ring shape. Don’t pinch the ends together, or they’ll come undone. Make sure to firmly roll the ends together.
18. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and spray a light coating of cooking spray on it. Lay each formed bagel on the cookie sheet. Set aside, and let the dough rise for about 5 minutes.
19. Turn up the heat on the water so it’s lightly boiling. In batches, add the bagels to the water.
20. Let the bagels boil for 30 seconds on each side, and then transfer them to a wire rack for a couple of minutes to drain.
21. Transfer the bagels back onto the parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, and bake until the bagels are slightly soft to the touch (about 20 – 25 minutes).
22. Serve warm with Funfetti cream cheese, and garnish with jimmies candy sprinkles.

For the Funfetti cream cheese

1. To a medium-size bowl, add the cream cheese and powdered sugar.
2. Whisk together until light and creamy.
3. Stir in the jimmies candies, and set aside.

More rainbow recipes

Rainbow cake
Homemade rainbow pasta
Rainbow poke cake