This year, Rosh Hashanah begins so late in the month but that doesn’t mean we gathered all our apple recipe ideas together in time! For my family, the best part of the celebration is always the apples dipped in honey, and that means making apples the centerpiece of your dinner — or at least dessert — is a guaranteed hit.
Here are some creative apple recipes for the holiday that I absolutely love, should you be putting together a Rosh Hashanah menu (or two) to celebrate the Jewish New Year with family and friends.
Honey optional…or, wait. No. It’s definitely not. Not optional at all.
Related: Cool Mom Eats Apple Guide: The best apples for baking and cooking.
Honey Apple Cake
Bundt pan desserts are a solid choice for a Jewish New Year celebration, since circular foods and desserts represent renewal and the circle of the life as we start another year. So I headed to Tori Avey, one of my go-to food writers for authentic Jewish holiday recipes, to see what she’s offering. For an apple dessert on the traditional side, I would be totally down for trying her Honey Apple Cake recipe for Rosh Hashanah. Or other holidays, really. Be sure to follow her directions: She suggests that because it’s a very moist cake, it’s best decorating just before serving or it will absorb the powdered sugar.
Photo: Mark Weinberg for Food 52
Ginger Apple Torte
Since we actually hit fall with Rosh Hashanah so late in our calendar this year, I’m up for a slightly more fall twist on the traditional apple desserts. This Ginger Apple Torte from Food 52 looks exquisite! They had me at “a fusion of gingerbread and apple cake.” In fact, if it turns out great, I’d reprise it at Thanksgiving.
Apple and Honey Pie Pops
If you’ve got kids over for dinner — or, not — these Apple and Honey Pie Pops at The Nosher are nothing short of brilliant. Sheri Silver calls them “a cinch to make” and that sounds good to me! (Also, I appreciate a good baking pun.) I especially like that they can be assembled and frozen in advance, which means one less thing to do when you’ve got a lot of hungry people to feed. Plus, you cut down on silverware to wash at the end!
Photo: Vicky Wasik for Serious Eats
Caramel Apples
While we’re talking desserts on a stick, Caramel Apples are a wonderfully simple idea, and it’s totally crowd-pleasing for the kids. Serious Eats has a smart, easy recipe — just five ingredients. And that includes water, and the apples. Just a warning: Make them for Rosh Hashanah, and your kids will be begging to eat them all year.
For more ideas, also check out the excellent Rosh Hashanah recipe archives on Serious Eats, conveniently sorted by parve and non-parve.
Related:Fabulous Rosh Hashanah menu ideas, from apps right through dessert
Apples and Honey Donuts
Donuts aren’t just for Hanukkah! (Thank goodness!) Amy Kritzer of What Jew Wanna Eat has a fantastic Rosh Hashanah food category worth checking out, and I was instantly drawn in by her recipe for Apples and Honey Donuts that she contributed to the site, The Jewish Food Experience. It’s essentially apple slices dipped in the donut batter before frying, and I love the creativity and the rustically delicious end results. Especially with that simple honey glaze.
Skinny Apple Pie Wontons
As a native New Yorker, I can attest that Jews and Chinese Food go together like…well, Jews and Chinese Food! Our post on 10 delicious twists on apple pie recipes was published a few years ago, and I’ve had these these, light, simple Skinny Apple Pie Wontons on my mind ever since.
Created by The Merchant Baker, you can find instructions for making them as cups or turnovers. Either way, you can give each guest their own little personal pie or two — complete with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream on the side, if you’re less worried about the “skinny” aspect of the recipe.
Easy Apple Tart
When you have apples and honey to work with as your main ingredients, there’s no shortage of dessert ideas to choose from. I’m drawn to anything with “easy” in the recipe title TBH, and this Easiest Apple Tart from See and Savour looks like it would please even my picky eaters on Rosh Hashanah. It doesn’t get more simple than puff pastry right out of the freezer, topped with apple slices tossed with a few simple ingredients.
Shana tova!
Top image: Sarah Gualtieri on Unsplash
