Honey Apple Cake

This apple cake is so easy to make and is the perfect dessert for Rosh Hashana! Plus, it’s all made in one bowl, so less to clean up afterwards.

What you will need:

2 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

¾ cup applesauce

1 cup olive oil

½ cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

2 Honeycrisp apples, cored and chopped

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9” square cake pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, applesauce, olive oil, honey, and vanilla until smooth. Tip- when measuring the honey, spray the measuring cup with nonstick spray first so the honey glides right out.

Add the flour, cinnamon nutmeg, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and stir until just combined.  

Fold in the apples and pour into the cake pan.

Bake, rotating halfway through, for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Optional- dust with confectioners' sugar.

Enjoy!

Jam Streusel Bars

What you will need:

Shortbread Crust
½ cup oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar

pinch of salt

Jam Layer
Fruit flavored preserves of choice

Streusel Topping
½ cup oil

1 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup rolled oats

⅔ cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F, with the rack in the middle. Grease a 9 by 9” square pan and line it with greased parchment.

Crust
In a medium bowl, mix the oil, flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt, until it comes together in a uniform dough. Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Press it down with your hands to pack it tightly into the pan. Place in the oven to par bake for 15 minutes.

Gooey Filling

Spread a layer of your fruit preserves over your warm crust. Spread as much or as little as you want. I like a thin layer. 

Topping
Mix together the oil, brown sugar, salt, oats and flour with your fingers, so the mixture forms small clumps. Scatter evenly over the jam. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is caramel-brown and the fruit is bubbling.

Cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting. It’s easier to cut when chilled. 

Enjoy! 

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!

Coconut Custard

This dairy free coconut custard is a creamy, dreamy dessert that transports me to a tropical beach on a faraway island! It’s full of sweet coconut flavor and this custard can be eaten by itself or be used in place of regular pastry cream. I will be using it later this week as a filling inside of one of my stuffed challahs. 

What you will need
1 13.5 oz can full-fat coconut cream
5 egg yolks
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Optional: toasted coconut for topping

Directions
Add the coconut cream to a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat.

While the milk is heating, add the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch to a glass bowl. Whisk together to combine (mixture will be a little clumpy) and set aside.

Whisk the milk occasionally until it starts to steam, but do not boil. Remove the milk from the heat and while whisking, pour a little milk (about ½ cup) into the egg mixture, do not stop whisking.
Continue to simultaneously whisk and slowly pour the remaining milk into the egg mixture. 

When all the milk has been poured into the bowl, give the mixture a good stir and then pour it back into the saucepan. 

Heat the milk mixture over medium heat, whisking almost constantly, until it starts to get thick like pudding and bubble. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. 

Place a strainer over a clean bowl and pour the custard into the strainer. Stir and push the custard through the strainer, leaving any clumps behind.

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard and cool to room temperature. When cool, refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
Note- When placing the plastic wrap on the custard, make sure it is actually touching the custard (like you're putting a band-aid on it). That will prevent a thick skin layer from forming on top of the custard.

Enjoy!

Brownies

I love chocolate! Have I said that before? These brownies come together so quickly and easily, you’ll be saying ‘why have I ever even bothered with boxed brownie mix?’   

These brownies are fudgey and ever so chocolatey! The {optional} coffee in them are the perfect match and help enhance the rich chocolate flavor I love!

What you will need
Brownies:
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup canola oil (or 1 stick softened butter)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Optional: 2 tsp instant espresso powder 

¼ cup dark chocolate chips

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp canola oil (or unsalted butter, melted)
1 tbsp hot water (optional-¼ tsp espresso powder added to the water)
1 tbsp honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sprinkles, for topping

Directions
For the brownies:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease an 8” square pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together the granulated sugar, flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the oil, vanilla and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before glazing.

For the glaze:
Whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, oil, coffee, honey, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.

Pour the glaze on the cooled brownie, spread it around and top with sprinkles. Let dry, then cut into squares.

Enjoy!

{Secret Ingredient} Chocolate Mousse

I love my sweets, dessert, and anything chocolate! This recipe is all of that, but none of the guilt. It is vegan, and the banana and avocado help imitate the creamy consistency you would get in a traditional mousse.  

What you will need:

1 ripe banana sliced

1 ripe avocado diced

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy, about 1-2 minutes. 

Divide among 2 glass jars and refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. 

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Loaf

Every year around this time I like baking something pepperminty, or warm and satisfying with spices in it. And this gingerbread loaf is just that! While I enjoy my pumpkin, fall spices, and peppermint all year round, everyone is baking a lot more this time of year!

This loaf is easy to prepare and comes together pretty quickly, which means you will be smelling the warm and delicious spices sooner.

What you will need: 

GINGERBREAD LOAF 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

½ cup granulated sugar 

1 tsp baking soda 

½ tsp salt 

1 tbsp ground ginger 

2 tsp cinnamon 

½ tsp ground nutmeg 

½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted or oil

½ cup molasses 

2 large eggs 

1 cup buttermilk (sub with milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

VANILLA GLAZE 

1 cup confectioners' sugar 

1 tbsp milk (more, as needed) 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

Directions: 

GINGERBREAD LOAF 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and ground nutmeg. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter and molasses until incorporated. Beat in eggs until combined, then buttermilk and vanilla extract. Beat until thoroughly combined. (Mixture may look curdled.) 

Stir wet mixture into the dry ingredients until combined, do not over mix. 

Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack to finish cooling. 

VANILLA GLAZE 

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Add more milk or confectioners' sugar as needed for desired consistency. Drizzle cooled cake with glaze.

Enjoy!