Sweet Challah Rolls with Apple Raisin Filling
We’re right in the middle of High Holidays. Last Tuesday was Rosh Hashana and today and Thursday are Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur. It’s a time of celebration and atonement. A time to reflect on the past year, what we’ve achieved and what we hope to accomplish in the coming year. It’s a time when the community gathers together to pray and rejoice. But with all that prayer and rejoicing comes the very important eating. Yes, food is just important as guilt. (Sometimes they even go hand in hand.)
The Jewish holidays are when all the classic Jewish recipes show up on tables all over the world. For Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur’s Break the Fast, there’s brisket and challah, kugel and rugelach and of course apples and honey. Apples and honey are very important to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur because they symbolize a sweet new year. While the day of Yom Kippur is all about fasting for 24 hours as a way to atone for the sins of the past year, apples and honey are all over the Break the Fast table. I mean, we haven’t eaten for 24 hours, you know there’s going to be a feast once that sun goes down. Sure there will be meat and potatoes, plenty of kugel and knishes, but there will also be tons of apples, honey and challah.
While you could absolutely have sliced apples and jars of honey for dipping as well as a beautiful braided challah adorn your table, wouldn’t it be cool if you could just combine all three into one amazing dish? First of all it would free up table space (which you’re going to need for the tons of food you’re going to gobble up). But it would also look and taste delicious! Don’t think such a recipe exists? Well, thanks to Beth A. Lee and her new The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook, it does!
Lee’s book has everything you think of when you think of Jewish baked good. There’s babka, bagels, black & white cookies, hamantashen, knishes, macaroons, rugelach and soufganiyot, just to name a few. There’s challah in there too. And not just one recipe. There are four different challah recipes. There’s your basic braided challah but there’s also a challah bread pudding (which I can’t wait to make) and these Sweet Challah Rolls.
What intrigued me about these adorable little rolls was not only how easy they were to make, but also that they were stuffed with sweet apples, cinnamon and raisins. They’re not only perfect for fall, they’re the ideal dinner roll for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good piece of challah right out of the oven smothered in butter. But with these rolls you get sweet apples, raisins and cinnamon in every bite. They’re absolutely delicious! And because they’re in cute little circles, they’re perfect for the holidays. While they’re a delightfully sweet side for dinner, they’d also be great for breakfast. I’ve only made one batch, but I can’t wait to make them again and for as long as apples are in season. So, I guess that means I have a delicious dinner roll until at least January. Yay!
Sweet Challah Rolls with Apple Raisin Filling
Notes
Adapted from The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook
Ingredients
- For the Dough
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 3 cups flour
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- For the Filling
- 1 cup apple, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- Pour the warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let it sit for about 10 minutes until it's all foamy.
- Add the flour, egg, oil and salt.
- Mix together with either your hands or a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment until thoroughly combined and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still too sticky, add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until smooth but not dry.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, form into a ball and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Poke a 1-inch hole through the center of the dough, cover with a kitchen towel and place in a warm, dry place to rise. Let it rest for 30 - 60 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
- While the dough rests, mix the chopped apples, cinnamon, raisins, lemon juice and sugar together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Line another baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Flatten 1 piece into a 6-by-4-inch rectangle and spread a heaping spoonful of the filling down the center. Close the dough up around the filling, and gently roll it out with your hands to a long rope. Loosely coil the rope, tuck the end under, pinch to seal, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
- Loosely cover the rolls with a kitchen towel and let rise again for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- While the dough rises for a second time, whisk together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water. Using a pastry brush, coat each roll with the egg wash.
- Bake the rolls for 5 minutes at 375, then lower the heat to 350 and bake for another 20 - 22 minutes or until they're nice and golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes. Serve.
What a lovely way to enter into Yom Kippur – thinking about this post and anticipating the rolls slathered with honey and butter to break the fast! Thanks for your lovely photos and kind words. Shana Tovah!
Thank you for the kind words! They were so good with butter!