Cranberry Pumpkin Loaf

I love everything pumpkin and any excuse to use pumpkin! And my new favorite combination is pumpkin and cranberry. The earthy, deep flavor of pumpkin combined with the fresh, tart pop of the cranberries in this pumpkin loaf is so unexpected. Festive enough for New Years dessert! 

What you will need:

½ cup canola oil (or 1 stick unsalted butter)

1 cup pumpkin puree (recipe for homemade here)

1 cup loosely packed light brown sugar

¼ cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)

2 large eggs

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

¾ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp baking soda

½ cup frozen cranberries

2 tbsp turbinado sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and grease, or grease a loaf pan and dust with flour.

Combine the oil, pumpkin, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth.

Whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. When I don’t have whole wheat flour on hand, I use all-purpose flour and it works well too.

Add the dry to the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth (but don't overmix).

Scrape into the loaf pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Press cranberries into the top and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the top is browned and crusty, and a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. Let cool.

Enjoy!

Gelt Together Cookies

Chanukah is one of my favorite holidays! I usually make some ugly Chanukah sweater iced sugar cookies, but this year I’m all about easy recipes! 

I purchased a bunch of bags of gelt from Trader Joe’s, and figured I can ‘decorate’ thick sugar cookies rolled in blue sugar with a gelt. I’ve seen similar ideas with Hershey kisses or nuts, so why not gelt? The combo works perfectly together. Make them for your Chanukah gelt together and they will be a showstopper! {see what I did there with geLt?!}

What you will need:

Sugar cookie dough (my easy recipe here)

I swapped butter for oil 1:1 here and worked perfectly

Sanding sugar or sprinkles

Gelt

Directions:

Follow directions here through chilling the dough. 

Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°. 

Form 1” balls of dough using a small cookie scoop or eyeballing. The dough should yield approximately 24 cookies. 

Flatten the balls slightly to form a disc.

Roll the edges in blue sanding sugar, or sprinkles, or whatever your heart desires!

Bake for 10 minutes. While the cookies are baking, unwrap your gelt. 

When the 10 minutes are up, quickly press a gelt in the center of each cookie before it sets. Then return to the oven for another 2 minutes. 

My son helped me with this stage, just had to remind him the tray was hot and left the oven mitt on it so he didn’t get burned. 

Allow the cookies and chocolate to cool completely before handling. 

Enjoy!

Make-Ahead Cranberry Sauce

The combination of orange juice, fresh cranberries, cinnamon and sugars create delicious flavors, and your house will smell amazing! Who needs a fall candle when you can make homemade cranberry sauce?!

It is so easy to make and it looks just beautiful. It can be made days in advance and stores well. There is such a difference between homemade cranberry sauce and the canned stuff, and once you make this you will never go back.

What you will need:

Juice and zest of 2 oranges (or ½ cup orange juice)

1 cup water

2 cups granulated sugar

1 ½ lbs fresh cranberries

2 cinnamon sticks

3 medium apples cut into chunks

2 inch piece of fresh ginger (optional)

Directions
Combine orange juice and zest, water, and sugar in a slow cooker and stir to combine. Add in cranberries and apple chunks, and stir. Add in cinnamon sticks and optional ginger and stir.

Cook on low heat for 3-4 hours, stirring once each hour. Alternatively, cook on high for 2 hours. Continue to cook until the sauce has thickened and most cranberries have popped.

Serve warm or cold!

Enjoy!

Creme Brûlée

My husband’s favorite dessert (and one of mine) is creme brûlée. We had a really good creme brûlée a few weeks ago while away in Antigua, and I wanted to recreate it. While I had always been intimidated to try to make it, I took the plunge the other week! And it passed his taste test! Success!

What you will need: 

1 pint heavy cream 

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste 

3 large egg yolks 

¼ cup granulated sugar 

⅛ cup turbinado sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325°F.

In a saucepan, add the heavy cream and vanilla bean paste. Bring to a light simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and cool to room temperature for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and granulated sugar until combined and lighter in color. 

Slowly add the cooled cream mixture, whisking constantly. 

Place 6 glass jars or ramekins in a large pan. Pour the mixture into the jars. Place the pan in the oven, then pour hot water into the bottom of the pan, enough so the water comes about halfway up the sides of the jars. 

Bake until set and just a little bit jiggly, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the jars from the oven and let cool on the counter until they reach room temperature, then place the jars in the fridge for 2 hours to chill.

Evenly sprinkle the top of each jar with the turbinado sugar. Using a kitchen torch, or under the broiler, melt the sugar until it bubbles and turns dark golden brown. This will form a crunchy top. Let sit for a few minutes.

Enjoy!

Apple Pie Spice

Even though I am totally team pumpkin pie spice, I’ve been loving this homemade apple pie spice! It’s a deliciously festive blend of spices that’s perfect for any fall-inspired baked good, especially challahs. It’s also pretty amazing as a topping for your oatmeal, a latte, or mixing with sugar for the ultimate cinnamon toast!

Spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom come together in this easy homemade Apple Pie Spice. This warm and comforting spice blend can be used for so much more than just apple pies!

What you will need:

4 tbsp ground cinnamon 

1 ½ tsp ground nutmeg 

½ tsp ground allspice 

1 tsp ground ginger 

1 ½ tsp ground cardamom

Directions:

Combine spices in a small bowl, mix well to combine. Store in a small jar or spice container. {I reuse my Trader Joe’s glass spice jars!}

Enjoy!

{Healthy} Spinach Banana Donuts

These cute healthy donuts are the perfect toddler-approved two bite snack. There are only 6 ingredients!

These green donuts are packed with nutrients, and if your toddler is like mine and does not like most veggies these help fill in that area.

These donuts are so easy to make and are versatile. You can make them in mini donut pans like I did, or even muffins. They freeze well {in an airtight bag or container} for months and you can pop them out as needed. 

What you will need: 

1 ½ packed cups baby spinach 

1 banana 

2 large eggs 

3 tbsp rolled oats 

½ tsp cinnamon 

1 tbsp ground flaxseed 

Glaze- 

6 tbsp powdered sugar 

 2-3 tsp water 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease your donut pan.

Add all of the ingredients into a blender and process until smooth.
Pour the batter into the donut cavities and bake for 17 minutes or until the donuts are firm and browning on the edges. 

Pop out of the donut cavities and let cool completely before adding the optional glaze or freezing. 

Glaze- 

Combine the powdered sugar and 2 tsp water in a bowl until it’s a thick consistency. If too thick, add another tsp water. 

Glaze your donuts by either turning over and dunking into the glaze, or drizzle over the top with a spoon. 

Decorate with some sprinkles! 

Enjoy!

Honey Apple Biscotti

It’s almost Rosh Hashanah and apple picking season, so what better way to bring in the new year and celebrate with an abundance of apples from apple picking than with some biscotti. These biscotti are sweetened with honey and have traditional warm apple spices in them. Then, they are topped with some dried apples. Alternatively, you can cube fresh apples and add to the middle of the biscotti.

What you will need:

3 ½ cups of flour

3/4 cup honey

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

½ tsp. cardamom

½ tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. allspice

Pinch of salt

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1.5 oz dried apples (I use Trader Joe’s freeze dried Fuji apple slices)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

In a large bowl add flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, honey, and vanilla extract. 

Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture. Give it a quick stir to incorporate all of the ingredients, the dough will be a little crumbly.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Form the dough into 2 long logs.  The logs should be relatively flat, only about ½ inch high, otherwise you will have really big slices of biscotti.  

Crush your dried apple chips and sprinkle over the top. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350°F, until the center is firm to the touch.

Let biscotti cool for 15 minutes.  Use a serrated knife cut the log into 1 inch wide pieces.

Turn the oven to 300°F and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

Biscotti may be still be a little moist and chewy, so if you prefer it crisp let it sit uncovered overnight in a dry space. 

Enjoy!

Sweet New Year Applesauce Challah

This challah has double the apple flavor as my previous Apple Pie Challah! Perfect for Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, or any fall Shabbat! 

There is apple flavor and spice in the actual challah dough {replace water with applesauce when making your dough} and then you can stuff the strands with homemade apple pie filling for even more apple-y goodness!

What you will need:

Challah dough {recipe here} 

Swaps- honey instead of sugar and add a spice blend {2 tbsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cardamom,1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp allspice} and 1 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce instead of water

Optional filling and topping:

How to in this post - Apple Pie Challah

Directions: 

Prepare challah dough according to directions here. Remember to swap honey and applesauce and add spices!

Tip: when measuring out the honey, spray your measuring cup first and the honey glides right out

Once your challah has risen and stuffed {if you decide to do so}, braid as a traditional challah, or a round challah. I have a whole tutorial on how to easily braid a round challah here.

Get ready for some serious fall flavors in your house as the challah bakes up!

Enjoy!

Apple Pie Challah

This challah is the perfect challah for Rosh Hashana! The challah dough is made with honey instead of sugar, with an added sprinkle of cinnamon. It is stuffed with a homemade Granny Smith apple pie filling that is both sweet and tart.

What you will need:

Challah dough {recipe here} 

swap honey for sugar and add 2 tbsp cinnamon

Filling

3 Granny Smith apples

2 tsp cinnamon 

1 tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp salt 

¼ cup brown sugar

Topping

½ cup brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 egg

Directions: 

Prepare challah dough according to directions. Remember to swap honey and add cinnamon!

Tip: when measuring out the honey, spray your measuring cup first and the honey glides right out!

Let to rise in the fridge overnight, or on the counter with the punch down method. 

While the challah is rising, prepare the apple pie filling:

Core and cut the apples onto small dices, this way it fits well inside the strands and braids easier. 

Combine the apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, and lemon juice in a small pot and simmer for about 10 minutes until the apple become softer and the liquid thickens. 

Allow the filling to cool before using in the challah.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Divide dough into 4 equal parts and then roll each part into a log.

Gently flatten each log so that it is about 2 inches wide. Spoon about 1 tbsp apple filling down the center of each log. Pinch the edges to seal, and then braid the logs either as a round challah or a regular challah.

Below I will walk you through the steps for braiding a round challah:

A. Place two strands in the center of your board, running parallel top to bottom. Place the third strand across the two strands, going under the left strand and over the right. Place the fourth strand directly below the third strand, going over the left strand and under the right. You will have something similar to a tic-tac-toe board pattern, with the center of the board being a very small square and the logs sticking out from that center. Keep the center as tight as possible {you’ll be braiding from the center.} I have numbered the strand ends in the following diagram to make the braiding process easier.

B. Take strand 1 and cross it over strand 2. 

Take strand 3 and cross it over strand 4. 

Take strand 5 and cross it over strand 6. 

Take strand 7 and cross it over strand 8. 

C. Take strand 2 and cross it back over the opposite way, over strand 7.

Take strand 8 and cross it over strand 5.

Take strand 6 and cross it over strand 3.

Take strand 4 and cross it over strand 1.

D. Take strand 7 and twist it with strand 4.

Take strand 6 and twist it with strand 1.

Take strand 8 and twist it with strand 3.

Take strand 5 and twist it with strand 2.

E. Tuck all of the twisted ends under the challah. Place on a baking sheet or in a round pan to rise. 

Place the challah in a greased pan and let the challah rise covered with a towel 30 minutes. 

Once the challah has risen, brush the top with an egg wash and then the brown sugar cinnamon mixture. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the challah is cooked through.

Enjoy!