HANUKKAH, the eight-day Festival of Lights, is (like most Jewish holidays) celebrated with symbolic traditions. We light candles every night to commemorate the miracle of one day’s worth of oil burning for eight days; exchange gifts and play games in celebration of that miracle; and eat foods fried in fat to symbolize the oil. While latkes are the Hanukkah darling in the United States, their counterpart in Israel (and runner-up in the States) is sufganiyot, enriched yeasted dough rounds, fried until puffy and brown, filled with jelly (or other fillings), and dusted with sugar.
These doughnuts come from a long line of European and North African ancestors, though they didn’t become popular as a Hanukkah treat until theUnited States come November and December, boasting myriad inventive flavor combinations: Salted caramel with pretzels, pistachio cream with berries, and passion fruit mascarpone are just a few of the offerings I’ve encountered.
