The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur is this week, which continues the season of the Jewish New Year. To celebrate this annual cycle, challah is often formed into a round (instead of being braided) and harvest type foods, like pomegranate, are often eaten. I combined these ideas into a sweet bread, baked with lots of honey and pomegranate seeds. You can work the pom seeds into the dough itself, or just sprinkle them on the top, or both!

I have tried a million challah recipes and came up with this combo of ingredients that I like best. Bread is not that hard, you can do it! Here’s how:

Put one packet of yeast in a bowl with 3/4 cup warm water and let it sit for 5 min until it gets a little bubbly. Then toss in an egg, 1/3 honey, 2T brown sugar, a big pinch of coarse salt and a half stick melted butter. Mix it all by hand or using a mixer. Then add flour, little by little until it’s no longer sticking to the side of the bowl and is thick and doughy and doesn’t seem to absorb any more flour (you’ll know…). You usually need about 4 cups of flour.

Knead it for a couple minutes (or just let it go around in the mixer with the dough hook) then throw that lump of dough into a big bowl you’ve coated in oil, and cover the top of the bowl with saran wrap. It’ll rise to about twice the size in a couple hours. Then take it out, roll it into a snake, then coil it into a round. Sprinkle with pom seeds and brush with egg (optional, but makes it feel more official!). Let it rise on a cookie sheet for another 45 min or so, then pop it in the oven for about 25 min at 350 degrees. Check it once in a while to see how brown it’s getting, and tap it on the bottom to see if it’s done (it should sound kind of hollow). Enjoy!

By Erin Gleeson for The Forest Feast

Kale Chips are an easy healthy snack to have before dinner, perhaps with a holiday cocktail!? All the crunchy satisfaction, and a little less guilt. They burn quickly, though, so watch them like a hawk. Four of five minutes in a hot oven does it, just until they get a little brown around the edges. Enjoy!

Challah dough makes for great cinnamon rolls- the dough is sweet and a little chewy, yum! Use my recipe for challah dough as is (or add a little pumpkin puree when you’re mixing it together). I found a jar of pumpkin butter at Trader Joe’s which was a great glaze, but you can also just make a basic icing (1c powdered sugar + 2T butter + 2t milk+ 1/2t cinnamon). Glaze right as they come out of the oven and enjoy immediately!

Kind of like mashed potatoes, but a little lighter. I like to puree mine for just a couple seconds so there are still some lumps.

Whenever I am working from home on Fridays (which is pretty much weekly) I make Challah for Shabbat dinner.  I have tried and adjusted many recipes, and this is the version I like best. Most recipes make 2 loaves (because it’s traditional to have 2 loaves for Shabbat) but I created a recipe that makes one loaf, which is usually plenty. To mix it up, you can add raisins, craisins, nuts, fruit, chocolate chips, etc. I learned to do the 6-piece braid on youtube via this link (I think about 100 of those views are mine). You can sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds, crushed nuts, sea salt…whatever you like on top. Whatever you don’t finish makes for great french toast the next morning. Shabbat Shalom!