Autumn Air

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons.
I don't know whether it's the color of the leaves, the bright crisp air, the sense of change in the atmosphere, the crunching of dry leaves beneath my feet, or the intoxicating aromas associated with the season.
I love the thought of baking spicy shortbread cookies and cutting them into ghosts, pumpkins, skulls, monsters and other ghoulish figures and icing them with great care and attention to detail.
The thought of smores on a bonfire on a gorgeous, star-filled, frosty night makes me tingle with delight.
And who doesn't relish in the feeling of goopy, stringy, seedy guts being scooped from a pumpkins center?
Yummy pumpkin and sweet potato pies fill the air with scintillating, warming aromas.  Rich, crimson cranberry sauce hinted with the scent of orange adds a tart note that complements the other glorious smells in my kitchen on the morning of Thanksgiving.
And then there is the coconut coated jelly apple or peanut ensconced caramel apple that is very common during this time of year.  We've all seen them in the supermarkets in their hard plastic coats of armor.  But they are so much more yummy when made at home.  And the smell of caramelizing sugar and the dance of the cream hitting the molten lava sugary syrup...something to behold.  It's simply magical.  Decorating these apple masterpieces has become quite the craft project as well.  How about adding layers of peanut butter caramel and then some melted dark chocolate and then topping it all with crushed pretzel pieces?  Or maybe raspberry caramel topped with melted white chocolate and the rolled in toasted pecans?  And then there is the option of the harder red candy coat rolled in miniature marshmallows.  Or maybe even adding some cinnamon oil to the candy coat and then rolling it in graham cracker crumbs.
I can go on and on.

Autumn is a catalyst for change.  It welcomes the new school year, it ushers in the rest of the holidays like the tip of a domino trail, starting with Halloween. And then brings us to blustery winter - which delivers a whole new treasure trove of sweets.

Rosh Hashana...Blessings for a Sweet New Year

It is customary to wish friends and loved ones a sweet New Year on Rosh Hashana, literally translated The Head of the Year, the Jewish New Year.  Rosh Hashana is traditionally observed by eating sweet foods, along with a host of symbolic foods that are each accompanied by their own special blessing.  Apples are dipped in honey, as is Challah (traditional egg bread, which is normally formed in the shape of a braid all year long, but during the High Holidays - nope, not getting high on the holidays...more just an elevated state of mind and consciousness - are shaped in rounds to symbolize the cycle of life and the cyclical nature of the year.  It also resembles a crown, for the head of the year.  Often, raisins are added to further sweeten the loaf.  I add apples and a thread of honey to mine, to incorporate the tradition of eating apples dipped in honey.

It is also customary to bake honey cake.  This year I decided to switch things up a bit, and rather than bake the traditional loaves of honey cake, I made them into cupcakes.  To further enhance the spicy sweetness of the cake I topped them with a cloud of orange honey cream cheese frosting.  Then, to add a touch of whimsy, I topped each one with the most adorable little marzipan and fondant honeybees.
My daughter made a bee of her own.  She had such fun trying to get the almond slice wings to stay on, and then enjoyed painting on their little eyes and stripes and stingers with a food coloring marker.
It was fun to see everyone's reaction to the honey cupcakes and the bees.  Watching how one attacks the bee on a cupcake is definitely entertaining.  Some picked the wings off first, others worked around the bee.  Some just picked it off first and popped them in their mouth, and others left them on the side of their plates...not sure they wanted to eat them at all.  I will definitely be making these again.  They were a hit!

Here's to a bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy year filled with fun, love, happiness, joy, prosperity, abundance, and - of course - sweetness!