By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by the California Raisin Marketing Board and am eligible to win prizes.  I was not compensated for my time.  This contest was facilitated by the RecipeRedux.  

I don't know about you, but this time of year, it's easy to get sick of the peppermint cookie this, and the cranberry stuffed that.  I want to eat something different with my holiday meals.  

I think sweet and spicy is becoming one of my new go-to flavor combos.  Sweet squash scrambled with eggs, and topped with sriracha?  Check.  Spicy chocolate ice cream?  Okay!  A Starbucks gingerbread latte?  YES PLEASE.  Got it?  Sweet and spicy.  It works.  Now take plump, naturally sweetened California raisins and combine them with sweet and creamy squash, spicy kicked up quinoa and top with a fried egg.  Now we're talking.  

When I was visiting my family in Ohio over Thanksgiving, I went out with my siblings for brunch.  Who doesn't love brunch?  We went to this place that's locally owned and sources all of their food, you guessed it, locally.  It's called the Sleepy Bee.  Even Alton Brown loves it.  Anyway, brunching seemed to spark a lightbulb in my brother's head.  All of a sudden, he decided that I should go into business with him and open up an egg themed restaurant called Egg Place, but spelled "EggPlc." because apparently it's more hipster that way.  His theory was that everything tastes better with an egg on top.  He's not wrong.  You could change the lyrics to Beyonce's song and exclaim "If you like it then you better put an egg on it," and it would probably be true 90% of the time.

By default, I'm pretty sure any recipe that involves butternut squash automatically feels "Holiday."  I know you know what I mean.  Like squash soup.  It feels like fall and winter when I eat it.  And in my book, fall and winter are holidays.  Plus, food and holidays are supposed to bring back memories.  And butternut squash will always provide me with a bright and shiny holiday memory.  Thanksgiving 2012 people.  I think sweet and spicy means holiday too.  And since the sweet in this dish comes from the California raisins, it's a natural sweetness you can feel really good about.  So this dish is definitely holiday.  Got it?  And since the holiday's are always full of such heavy, decadent foods, it's the clear choice to enjoy a dish made with foods that are good for you, like squash and of course all-natural California raisins.  Plus, this dish is super budget friendly.  Fun fact:  did you know that according to the USDA, raisins are the most economical dried fruit?  So start saving those pennies for your holiday gifting because this dish won't be breaking the bank.  

yield:  12 servings

I'm pretty sure a bunch of over-ripened bananas is the universal signal for, "bake me!"

I mean, aren't we all guilty?  Secretly letting our perfectly ripe bananas over-ripen so we can justify why we made cookies, bread, pancakes, muffins...you get the idea.  We tell ourselves it's totally fine because...fruit.  I can picture how this would go over if my mother were here.  
Mom:  "Did you really need to bake cookies?"  
Me:  "Why would I waste bananas?"
See what I mean?  The perfect excuse.

I don't know if your family has the same problem as my family.  If someone were to bake muffins, or bring muffins into the house, mysteriously, all the muffin tops seem to disappear.  Kind of like the crust to a good loaf of bread seems to disappear, and the crunchy topping on a casserole gets picked off the top.  We are a crunchy, crust loving, topping eating family.  I think it's just who we are.  That's why when Panera invented the muffie, I pretty much fell in love.  It basically solved all my dilemmas.  No more bottom of the muffin waste; the perfect part of the muffin AKA the top is the only part of the muffin when you eat a muffie.  It's pure genius.  

Kind of how my family has a love affair with muffin tops, we have a similar love affair with coffee.  I blame my dad for that one.  Always asking if we wanted coffee at weird times like 2pm.  Who needs coffee at 2pm?  Wait, that's what I used to say.  Now, coffee pretty much runs through my veins.  I drink it all the time.  ALL DAY LONG.  When they invent an IV drip for coffee, sign me up.  I'll overcome my fear of needles for coffee.  A coffee draught would be pretty much the worst thing ever.  I wouldn't survive.  Not having a baked good to eat with my coffee is a close second to the worst thing ever.  Don't worry though.  These cookies are like a cross between the best muffie you've ever eaten, and the best cookie you've ever eaten.  I think they make the perfect partner in crime for your cup of mid-afternoon joe.  I think they are more muffiny than cookie-like but they are certainly 100% delicious.  

I'm bringing Friday back.  Homemade challah Fridays.  Today is Friday, so the timing for this post couldn't be better (or more exciting...It's my first #RecipeReDux post)!

I guess if you didn't grow up with me, you'd have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.  If you're Jewish too, you might have an inkling.  But the power of the internet does not allow me to read your mind or know what you are thinking, unfortunately.  I was recently accepted in to this super cool group of healthy food bloggers, The Recipe ReDux, where member bloggers participate in monthly themed posts that go live on the 21st or 22nd of each month; the theme for November is a food memory you're thankful for.  So, instead of reading your mind, let me just tell you what I'm talking about.  I'm going to tell you about about a food memory I'm thankful for! (HINT:  it involves homemade challah and Friday).

Per family tradition, as a child, Friday's were always reserved for Shabbat.  Pretty much all things that happened on Friday night had to happen after dinner.  Kind of frustrating for your average teenager.  Shabbat, if you're unfamiliar, is considered to be a "day of rest," observed from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.  Now, my family wasn't strict in our rituals of all things Shabbat, however, Friday night dinners seemed to be a repeating occasion (Side-note:  ever since Gilmore Girls was added to Netflix, all I can think about when I hear "Friday night dinner" are Friday dinners with Richard and Emily Gilmore.  I promise mine were way less formal and way more exciting).  I remember more Fridays with these dinners than without.  Like I said, tradition.  As we all know traditions dictate many things, and in my case, challah bread!  Now if you've heard of Challah before, you are probably are thinking about the best French toast you've ever eaten.  I know that thinking of French toast is a close second for me (like this stuffed French toast).  For a period of time I remember being significant (although I'm sure my father may argue the period of time wasn't significant at all, but hey, it's my memory, right?), my father would make challah bread from scratch every Thursday night so we could have freshly baked bread for Friday dinner.  I remember sometimes I'd even be lucky enough to have the immense honor of braiding the dough myself!  My braiding skills probably go back to my year as a Girl Scout; it feels like I probably learned then... or at a sleepover?

Our Shabbat dinners had more than Challah, we ate other traditional foods too.  I'm going to be honest though, I don't get excited about that many Jewish foods.  Do you get excited about kuggel?  No?  I didn't think so.  Actually, I bet you don't even know what it is.  Thankfully Buzfeed will tell you, and then you can decide for yourself.  See, not every family and/or culture is as lucky as you people from the south.  I mean c'mon, who doesn't love a good biscuit or crisp piece of fried chicken?  That beats kuggel in my book any day.  Anyways...in my eyes, Challah is one of the few Jewish foods worth getting excited about.  Now, I know what you're thinking.  Your favorite food memory is about a loaf of bread?  And yes, you'd be right.  But I'm thankful for this memory because of more than the bread.  This was the first time that I can remember spending time in the kitchen as a kid.  While I may not have known it then, food has kind of become a focal point in my life, so in a weird way, I probably owe a lot of thanks to these bread baking memories.
 

When I asked my dad a few months back for his Challah recipe, it's safe to say he was excited.  He sent me emails saying things like, "I can't wait to see your braids."  So weird.  My family likes our bread on the sweet side.  You don't have to like what I like (but I definitely encourage it).  Feel free to omit the honey for a slightly less sweet version.  And be patient.  When I say the dough needs to rise overnight, I'm being serious.  I'm not always serious, but I'm serious about this (why do you think we made the bread Thursday to eat for dinner Friday!?)  I took my dad's recipe and changed it ever so slightly.  You'll notice the addition of whole wheat flour for some fiber action there.  I promise, it's still just as delicious.
  

Makes 2 loaves