SOUFGANIYOT

As a kid I used to wait for Chanukah with baited breath. It was the only time every year when you could buy jelly filled doughnuts, and they were amazingly delicious. Sarah, the sales lady in Jerusalem, and Israel, the grocery store owner in Tel Aviv, both would have those airy, yeast-fragrant pillows stuffed with just the right amount of strawberry jam to ooze out and stain the corners of your mouth with every single bite.

The recipe below should give you the opportunity to create these delicious morsels. Just don’t spare on the jelly, even though it means that every corner of the kitchen will be sticky once you’re done!

½ cup warm water

5 tsp dry yeast

½ cup sugar

1 cup warm milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

½ tsp salt

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 cups strawberry jam or raspberry jelly

Confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling

Lots of canola oil for frying

In a large mixing bowl stir together the water, yeast and ¼ cup sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in remaining sugar, milk, vanilla, oil, salt and 4 cups flour to make a soft dough. Knead by hand or a mixer with a dough hook for 7 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a towel and put in a cold over to rise for 1 hour. Punch the dough down gently.

Roll the dough to 1” thickness and cut with a 2 1/2” biscuit cutter or a glass. Cover with a towel and let rise for another hour.

Heat 4 ” or more of oil in a deep Dutch oven or large pot. Line a large plate with paper towels. Add doughnuts, 3 - 4 at a time, and fry until underside is golden brown, which happens faster than you think. Turn the doughnuts over once and finish frying on the other side. Initially this will take 2 - 2 ½ minutes. After a couple of rounds frying both sides will take 2 minutes max. Drain doughnuts on paper towels.

Prepare a pastry bag and fill with jelly. Fit with a round tip with a wide hole (1/4”). Use to punch a hole in the bottom of each doughnut and pipe the jelly in. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve immediately. These are best warm and fresh. Whether you celebrate Chanukah or not, these are worth making!