Place water, sugar, honey, and yeast in a large bowl or the bowl of your mixer.

Add oil, apples, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

Add half the flour and salt, then stir until smooth.

Add the rest of the flour gradually, using only as much as needed for the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Knead dough until smooth and elastic, then place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let the air out of the dough and start braiding.

Allow braided challah to rise until puffy (about one hour).

Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your challahs.

Use 9 ounces of dough per individual challah crown.

Divide each piece of dough into six smaller pieces of 1 and 1/2 ounces each. Roll four of the pieces into equal-sized strands.

Place two of the strands vertically alongside a small glass, like a mini honey jar or shot glass.

Place the other two strands horizontally across them like a tic-tac-toe with the glass in the center. “Weave” one strand over and one strand under. Now you have four “sets” of two parallel strands next to each other.

Each set has one “under” strand and one “over” strand. Take the “under” strand and cross it over the “over” strand.

Now you’ll do the same thing, working the other way around. Cross each “under” over the “over” strand near it. Go back around the first way if you still have enough length in your strands, then tuck ends underneath.

Take the remaining two strands and roll until they are very long and skinny. Cross in the center.

Twist from one side and then the other.

Close the twist into a circle.

Place the weave braid with the glass on top. The twist should extend slightly outward from the weave braid to create a crown effect.

To make it look even more special, coat some of the strands with seeds (poppy, sesame, caraway, etc.). Prepare each type of seed on its own plate or tray.

Roll the dough strand on a piece of wet paper towel to slightly moisten it, then roll it around in the tray of seeds.