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Home » Baking and Desserts

Challah Rolls with Apple Currant Filling

by Beth Lee · Published: Sep 24, 2020 · Modified: Apr 10, 2024

729 shares
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challah rolls at an angle on baked parchment

Challah rolls filled with apples and currants are perfect for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur BUT why limit yourself? These little gems are ideal individual servings for breakfast, lunch and dinner all year round.

For ease of browsing, here are all of my baking and dessert recipes in one place.

Baked challah rolls on cooling rack at an angle on parchment paper.

Childhood memories come full circle …

Growing up, it was always my grandmother that did the baking. And without fail, well into her 90s, she made challah bread (egg bread) every Friday for Shabbat. Sometimes in the summer she stayed with us in Massachusetts but what I remember most vividly, is visiting her in Brooklyn.

When we walked into her tiny apartment, she would always have fresh challah waiting. Even when she made a traditional braided loaf, she always made smaller, turban-like circular versions too. And not just on Rosh Hashanah, when it’s traditional to have a round challah. She made these circular challahs all year long. You should too.

Why you'll love this challah roll recipe

They may be small but there is a lot to love.

This challah rolls recipe makes 8 individual rolls -- the perfect amount to feed a small group and have a couple leftover for toast the next morning. You can also make one loaf, if you prefer.

I show you how to fill them with an apple cinnamon currant mixture – perfect for a sweet new year at Rosh Hashanah. But you can skip the filling and then use them to make these fantastic brisket sandwiches!

And finally, I based this on my easy orange challah recipe so these are very quick to make, especially if you have a dough hook in your stand mixer. No need to devote a day to prepare these. Total time from start to finish is 2 hours or less.

Hand holding cut roll showing interior and baked rolls on a cooling rack in the background.

Ingredients you’ll need

Collage of ingredients labelled and displayed for making challah rolls at home.

Dough

  • Instant yeast: I call for instant yeast in the recipe but you can certainly use a package of active dry yeast. Instant yeast is convenient – you don’t have to wait for it to activate. And it happens to be the first yeast I was able to find when things were in short supply during the Spring of 2020. A whole pound of it!
  • Warm water: I have a hot water tap so I mix ½ room temp water and ½ hot to get my warm water. If you want to be sure it’s the right temperature – it should be about 110 degrees. Temp of water is not crucial with instant yeast but is important to activate regular yeast.
  • Eggs: Remember – one is for the dough and one is for the egg wash
  • Vegetable oil: Canola oil will work as well. Olive oil might but I haven’t tested it yet!
  • All-purpose flour: All-purpose (AP) flour, not bread flour is what I used to test the recipe. AP flour is easier to find and most of us have it in our home kitchens.
  • Kosher salt: all my recipes use kosher salt unless otherwise stated.

Filling

  • Apples: any crisp apple will work here including ones that are more sour – like a pippin or granny smith. I put a few drops of lemon juice on the chopped apples to keep them from browning.
  • Currants: Currants are similar to raisins but smaller. Regular or golden raisins will sub in just fine here. You could sub in dried cranberries as well.

Recipe step-by-step instructions

Prepare the Dough

1. Put yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook, and pour in warm water. Whisk it (by hand) so the yeast dissolves. Let this stand for a couple of minutes to be sure you see some bubbles or action in the yeast mixture so you know your yeast is alive and well. Then whisk in (by hand) the 1 egg and the oil. If using instant yeast, no need to wait for it to activate. Just put the yeast, water, egg and oil in and whisk together.

Eggs, oil, water and yeast in bowl of stand mixer being whisked by hand.

2. Add 3.5 cups of the flour, the salt, sugar, and beat with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic. If dough is sticky, add ⅛ cup of flour at a time. In my heavy-duty mixer, it takes only a minute or two for the dough to come together.

Challah dough in stand mixer fully kneaded and clinging to dough hook.

3. Remove the dough from the mixer bowl, form into a round and poke a 1-inch hole all the way through the center. Let the dough rest covered loosely on a floured surface 30 minutes.

Challah dough resting, covered loosely in plastic wrap.

Make the filling

4. While the dough is resting, make the apple cinnamon raisin mixture by combining the chopped apples, currants or raisins and cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the sugar.

Chopped apple currant cinnamon stuffing in red bowl.

Form the challah rolls

5. Use a knife or bench scraper to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, around 100 grams each or just eyeball it. (Short on time? Make one large loaf with a simple 3 strand braid and just divide it into 3 pieces at this point.) For even more ideas about braiding and forming rolls, check out my challah braiding post!

Challah dough divided into 8 triangular pieces.

6. Flatten each ball into a 6” long oval. Put about a heaping tablespoon of the apple cinnamon nut mixture down the center. Close the dough up around the filling and roll it out with your hands to about a 9” rope.

3 photos showing how to fill and roll a challah roll, step by step, with text: "Flatten, fill, close and roll!".

7. Loosely coil this rope and connect the end to the dough so it doesn’t flap open. Place on a parchment lined sheet pan and repeat this procedure with the other 7 dough balls.

Challah dough coiled and ready to rise and bake on countertop.

8. Cover the small round challahs loosely and let them rise for about 30 minutes in a warm location. You know dough is ready to bake if you poke it with your finger and it slowly springs back. While the dough is rising/resting, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Close up view of challah dough on parchment before egg wash.

9. When ready to bake, brush the eight challahs all over with egg wash. Bake for 5 minutes at 375 degrees then reduce heat to 350 and let them cook for about 22 minutes longer.

Egg washed dough rolls on parchment.

Expert Tips and Recipe FAQs

This recipe is very flexible and forgiving. The dough is easy to work with whether you choose to stuff it or not. And remember – you don’t need lots of time to get from dough to finished rolls. Even on a busy day, you can have fresh challah rolls on the table for dinner.

  • Challah is a naturally sweeter bread – it almost always includes sugar or honey in the recipe. But for Rosh Hashanah we like to eat foods to symbolize a sweet new year – stuffing these with the apple mixture is a nice touch. If you prefer plain bread, skip the stuffing.
  • You can change the stuffing to something more savory or use a different dried fruit. Experiment and have fun with these mini challah rolls!
  • If you don’t stuff them, you can finish them with seeds on top either randomly sprinkled or in little dots (see photo below).
  • Don’t want or need individual rolls, feel free to braid this as one loaf. Bake it 5 to 10 minutes longer.
  • These rolls taste fantastic the next morning toasted and slathered with some cream cheese … just sayin.
Egg washed challah rolls with dots of seeds applied, ready for the oven.

How can you tell when the dough has risen enough and is ready to go in the oven?


Not sure if the dough is ready to bake? Does it need to rise more? Just poke it and watch what happens. If it slowly bounces back, it’s perfect. If it doesn’t bounce back at all, it’s probably over-proofed (rose too much). Bounces back instantly? It probably needs a bit more time.


Can I freeze the rolls after they are baked?


Absolutely – just package them airtight, mark the bag with the date and pop them in the freezer.


Can I refrigerate the dough before I bake it?


If you made the dough and then realize you don’t have time to finish the process right away, cover the dough and put it in the fridge. The dough will continue to rise in the fridge but much more slowly. So by putting the dough in the refrigerator, you are essentially putting the process on pause so you can finish it later.

Other challah recipes to try

  • Easy Challah Recipe with a Hint of Citrus
  • Round Challah for Rosh Hashanah
  • Challah Bread Pudding
  • Challah Stuffed with Tahini
3 golden baked rolls seen from an angle on parchment paper.

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P.S. If you try this recipe, please leave a star rating and/or a review in the comment section below. I so appreciate your feedback! AND find more inspiration on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Signup for my email list, too!

hand holding a cut challah roll with uncut challah rolls in the background

Challah Rolls with Apple Currant Filling

Beth Lee
Challah rolls filled with apples and currants are perfect for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur BUT why limit yourself? These little gems are perfect individual servings for breakfast, lunch and dinner all year round.
4.84 from 6 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
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Prep Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 27 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 37 minutes mins
Course Baking and Desserts
Cuisine Jewish Holiday Cooking
Servings 8 rolls
Calories 337 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast or active dry
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 large eggs one for the dough, one for the egg wash
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 3.5 - 4 cups AP flour plus more for dusting
  • ½ tablespoon kosher salt
  • 6 tablespoons sugar divided (4 for dough, 2 for filling)
  • Scant 1 cup chopped apple sprinkled with some lemon juice
  • ¼ cup currants or raisins
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions
 

  • Put the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a
    dough hook, and pour in warm water. Whisk it (by hand) so the yeast dissolves. Let this stand for a couple of minutes to be sure you see some bubbles or action in the yeast mixture so you know your yeast is alive and well. Then whisk in (by hand) the 1 egg and the oil. If using instant yeast, you can mix it all at once.
  • Add 3.5 cups of the flour, the salt, 4 tablespoons of the sugar, and beat with the dough hook for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary. In my heavy-duty mixer, it takes only a minute or two for the dough to come together. But don’t go by time, go by look and feel. Is it smooth and elastic? Does it feel wet and sticky? If so, add a bit more flour.
  • Remove the dough from the mixer bowl, form into a round and poke a 1-inch hole all the way through the center. Let the dough rest covered loosely on a floured surface or parchment paper for up to 30 minutes.
  • While the dough is resting, make the apple cinnamon raisin
    mixture by combining the chopped apples, currants or raisins and cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the sugar.
  • Use a knife or bench scraper to divide the dough into 8
    equal pieces, around 100 grams each or just eyeball it. (Short on time? Make one large loaf with a simple 3 strand braid and in this case, just divide it into 3 pieces at this point.)
  • Flatten each ball into a 6” long oval. Put about a heaping
    tablespoon of the apple cinnamon nut mixture down the center. Close the dough up around the filling and roll it out with your hands to about a 9” rope. Loosely coil this rope and connect the end to the dough so it doesn’t flap open. Place on a parchment lined sheet pan and repeat this procedure with the other 7 dough balls.
  • Cover the small round challahs loosely and let them rise for
    about 30 minutes in a warm location. You know dough is ready to bake if you poke it with your finger and it slowly springs back. While they are rising, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • Brush the eight challahs all over with egg wash.
  • Bake for 5 minutes at 375 degrees then reduce heat to 350
    and let them cook for about 22 minutes longer.

Video

Notes

  • The stuffing is a nice touch for a sweet Rosh Hashanah challah. But if you prefer plain bread, skip the stuffing.
  • You can also change the stuffing to something more savory or use a different dried fruit. Experiment and have fun with these mini challahs!
  • If you don’t stuff them, you can finish them with seeds on top either randomly sprinkled or in little dots (see photo below).
  • If you don’t want or need individual rolls, feel free to braid this as one loaf. You probably will need to bake it 5 to 10 minutes longer.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 337kcal
Keyword bread, challah, Jewish holiday cooking, Rosh Hashanah, Yom kippur
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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  1. Theo Stephan

    September 30, 2020 at 11:10 pm

    5 stars
    Beyond bakery quality in your own kitchen! I used lemon olive oil and stuffed my buns with feta and sour cherry, fig and raspberry jams. The sour cherry was the favorite but they were all amazing. Will make this recipe again and again. Thank you Beth!

    Reply
  2. Jenni

    September 25, 2020 at 8:54 pm

    I love, love, love the look of the "dots" of seeds on these babies! Now I want to make challah rolls and stuff them with all the things--you make it sound very doable!

    Reply
    • Beth Lee

      September 26, 2020 at 7:35 am

      Yes stuff them with all the things - you have the best riffs! And those dots - I learned from Joan Nathan and I just love playing with those!

      Reply
  3. Laura

    September 24, 2020 at 7:01 pm

    I have yet to make challah, but you broke the steps down and made it look easy! I'm going to have to try this!

    Reply
    • Beth Lee

      September 25, 2020 at 10:20 am

      This is such an easy bread dough (speaking as someone who had a major fear of dough when I started this blog). Give it a try! I'd love to see your version!

      Reply
  4. Dana @ Foodie Goes Healthy

    September 25, 2020 at 1:54 am

    5 stars
    Great instructions for making these cute challah rolls. So fun that they are stuffed and everyone enjoyed! Great recipe.

    Reply
  5. Sandi

    September 24, 2020 at 3:21 pm

    I am forever jealous that gluten free flour doesn't behave in a way to get that stretchy awesome dough. Your challah rolls look incredible!

    Reply
    • Beth Lee

      September 24, 2020 at 5:14 pm

      Thanks Sandi. One of the people that comes to what was our annual Rosh H dinner makes a pretty great gluten free challah - definitely not the same texture but pretty awesome.

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Beth!

I'm a cookbook author, cooking teacher and preserved lemon lover. My family is a mix of Jewish, Hawaiian and Korean heritage. My virtual multicultural kitchen is always open. Let's cook together! 

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