Kosher Hanukkah Treats

Hanukkah is one of the happiest Jewish holidays that I know. It is the origianl festival of lights, commemorated with the lighting of the menorah for eight nights.

Oil plays a great significance at Hanukkah and it has inspired Jewish cooks to create oil heavy Chanukah delicacies. Ashkenazi Jews gave us the latke, potato pancake. Sephardic Jews gave us jelly filled donuts called sufganiyot and other sweet deep fried pastries.

Here at Mitzuyan Kosher Catering, we get pretty excited as we start to think about our Hanukkah treats that we will be offering to our catering customers. Drop us a line or fill out the form if you’d like to arrange a meeting or phone call to cater a Hanukkah party.

Meanwhile, let me share with you two the recipes of my favourite Hanukkah treats.

Jelly Filled Donuts for Hanukkah

·         Prep Time : 10 min

·         Cook Time : 20 min

·         Ready Time : 30 min

Servings

14 doughnuts

Ingredients

·         2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

·         2 (8-ounce) cartons vanilla low-fat yogurt

·         2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

·         2 eggs

·         6 cups canola oil

·         3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

·         1 cup seedless strawberry jelly

Directions

1.    In a large bowl, place flour, yogurt, vanilla sugar and eggs.

2.    Knead until all ingredients are combined and a sticky, doughy batter is formed. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.

3.    Heat 6 cups canola oil in a 6-quart stockpot, covered, over medium heat.

4.    When dough is ready, uncover oil and raise heat to high.

5.    Scoop out a tablespoonful of batter and drop in oil. Don’t make the doughnuts too big, so they can cook through.

6.    You should be able to fry about 7 doughnuts at a time. Using a slotted spoon, turn doughnuts when halfway browned, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Fry for another 2-3 minutes or until entire doughnut is deep golden brown and cooked through.

7.    Remove doughnuts and let cool on paper towel-lined plates. Repeat previous 2 steps with remaining batter.

8.    Fill a squeeze bottle with jelly and inject a little into each doughnut.

9.    Roll each doughnut in confectioner’s sugar. Or, shake 3 doughnuts at a time in a paper bag filled with confectioner’s sugar.

Contributed by: Quick & Kosher, Jamie Geller

A Sephardic Hanukkah Treat: Bimeulos

By Adeena Sussman,  MyJewishLearning

3 1/2 cups all‑purpose flour

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water, divided
juice of 1 large orange, strained of pulp (about 1/3 cup), divid
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for frying
1 cup honey

Combine flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt in a large bowl. Reserve. Pour 1/2 cup water into a large bowl. Sprinkle sugar and yeast over water and wait until mixture become foamy, about 10 minutes. Add flour mixture, remaining water, 3 tablespoons orange juice, orange zest, and 2 tablespoons oil to yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to combine, about 30 seconds.

Using your hands, knead dough in bowl until smooth, adding 1 tablespoon of additional flour at a time to reduce stickiness, for about 1-2 minutes. Remove dough and place in a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest until dough has doubled in volume, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Heat about 4 inches of oil in a large, tall pot to about 350-360F (very hot but not smoking, or when a pea-sized piece of dough turns brown immediately when dropped into oil). Lightly oil hands, form dough into walnut-sized balls, and drop into oil in batches. Fry until golden brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes total. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Place honey and remaining orange juice in a small saucepan and simmer 3-4 minutes until warm. Drizzle honey over doughnuts and serve.