48 doughnuts later, our 2025 Hanukkah rankings

We levelled up this year.

No war (mostly? Not the case, though, if you ask reservist families), hostages home (almost?) no COVID, no holds barred. It was joyous for us this year.

Since I switched career paths a year ago and started working out in the world, in an office, with actual other live people for the first time in Israel — even though I’ve been living here for 20 years — now I know Israelis. 

I’ve never really had Israeli friends before, and wow — they have opinions. About sufganiyot. And everything else. I’ve learned to rely on their recommendations because they take everything seriously… including food. Our family prepares the sufganiyot vendor list a month in advance, so I ran it by my colleagues, and they redlined my list. 

Too American. 

They insisted I drop some of our long-established vendors in favor of newcomers to the market — trendy, popular — the “new generation” of bakers. I listened, and, as expected, they were right. 

Normally, we are very careful to plan our sufganiyot tour for the first or second day of Hanukkah (never before Hanukkah, never ever, even though sufganiyot are out on shelves up to a month before the holiday), but this year, Sufganiyot Day became Day 4 of Hanukkah. And then, thanks to my Israeli colleagues, we had perhaps the best Sufganiyot Day ever. Now do we count as trendy? That would be a first for us; we are mostly a family of spectacularly dorky people. My sister calls both our parenting styles “raising nerds for fun and profit.”

Madeline

Kfar Etzion

12 ILS (about $3.70) traditional jelly

We have dropped in to Madeline from time to time since our orthodontist is in Efrat, and with one of the offspring finished with braces, two in the middle of braces, and one who needs them so badly he looks like a jack-o-lantern but isn’t old enough yet, I mostly sign my paycheck right over to the orthodontist. Boys require sweets post-orthodontist, so enter Madeline. We showed up there at 8:30 a.m., since they were our first stop, so they only had the traditional jelly variety available (apparently French bakers do not rise when Favermans rise). Normally, they have a Dubai Chocolate sufganiya, which is supposedly great, but we couldn’t tell you since their bakers slept late. We were impressed with their offering, we hit jelly on the first bite (critical to qualify as a potential winner) and the jelly was high quality. That said, we did not find the dough to be exceptional, so it didn’t advance to the position of finalist. It’s a solid sufganiya, no embarrassment, but we’ll simply decide that they are better at croissants.

Lechem Talmi

Kfar Etzion

12 ILS (about $3.70) for both traditional jelly and fancy

Since we were already in Kfar Etzion, we would have been remiss (as my Gush Etzion friends reminded me) if we had skipped Lechem Talmi. We walked in and saw gorgeous breads and smiling faces, but zero sufganiyot. We were about to leave, considering we can’t judge bread in a sufganiya contest, even though it looked scrumptious, but we figured we’d approach the staff and ask before we dismissed it. They said, very nicely, that we would have to wait an hour, but it would be worth the wait.

To be fair, we did show up at 8:45 a.m. and not everyone functions well at that hour. As we’d already established. But since they were our second stop on a 10-vendor tour, we couldn’t wait. After explaining what we were doing and why we couldn’t wait (I’m midwestern; I tell stories), they shifted into overdrive and said our sufganiyot sampling would be ready in 10 minutes. It was more than 10 minutes, but they got it together fast! We had the privilege of sampling their Pistachio Carmel, Vanilla, and traditional jelly. We were shocked at their sheer weight — these were the heaviest sufganiyot we’ve ever had. We hit filling on the first bite in all three varieties. There was almost more filling than dough; it was a revelation! The fillings, however — all three — were extremely sweet. While my 9-year-old was over the moon, the rest of us prefer slightly less cloying sweetness. The Pistachio Carmel was excellent and their best by far. We recommend it, but not a finalist.

Le Moulin Doré

German Colony

6 ILS ($1.85) traditional jelly

14 ILS (about $4.30) fancy

I had never been in this bakery before since I cannot park anywhere near there on a normal day (Emek Refaim Street, gorgeous but unparkable), but by the time we got there, around 9:30, it was pouring rain and the smartest of the humans were not out tasting sufganiyot, so parking was plentiful. I have to say… how unexpected is it that the cheapest sufganiya of the day was in the German Colony, where a banana will cost you 14 ILS? Color me surprised. 

We tried their Lemon Meringue, their Chocolate Cream, and their Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake. We have no idea what these sufganiyot are actually named, since their entire menu is in French, as is their website, so we simply named them like we name everything else (our cars are Simone and Jay, my vacuum cleaner is Monica, and my coffee machine is Gretchen). We had special appreciation for the Lemon Merengue, as this variety (although a different vendor) has taken the title in years past. A classic, this one was as French as a sufganiya can get — small, scrumptious, nothing overpowering and perfectly balanced. The filling was an ideal consistency and the merengue deserved its own accent. The Chocolate Cream was my favorite of the day so far, considering the cream was light and fluffy (so French!), and the Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake was a plain sufganiya cut in half horizontally and stacked in layers with whipped cream and fresh strawberries; it felt more “sophisticated cream-puff” than sufganiya. I was extremely impressed with the sufganiyot whose names we made up, but my family has an American palate (we bake, and we are buttercream frosting people) so they forbid me from promoting any of these offerings to finalist level, since the flavors are subtle rather than smack-you-in-the-face. I guess the Wisconsin in me has been inherited (science says no but the proof is in the sufganiyot).

Patichou 

Shuk: Bottom of Agrippas, near the Shuk Kenyon underground parking (the weird indoor shuk that failed)

12 ILS (about $3.70) traditional jelly

18 ILS (about $5.55) fancy

While I work literally two minutes from this bakery, I’ve never set foot in there since I cannot pronounce the name and it reminds me of patchouli; while I’m a little bit hippie, patchouli is too far. I was about 4,000% wrong — there were no hippies in sight. The whole place is about seven square meters total, and mostly we heard French (can you sense the theme this year? Israelis know to go to the French for pastries!), but at least their Facebook page is in Hebrew, not French. We tried their Truffle with Caramel Toffee, Lemon Meringue Cream, Vanilla with Forest Fruits, Ferrero Roche, and traditional jelly. The Lemon Meringue Cream was delectable — a finalist — but ultimately not triumphant because it’s a leaker. The filling, while heavenly, was a little bit too liquidy, so it squirted everywhere. Splat on lap, splat on ground, not enough in mouth.

While their Vanilla with Forest Fruits left us disappointed, and their traditional jelly was an ultimate failure (jelly only on bite #3), their Ferrero Roche was exceptional, and two of our party voted it a finalist, though they were a minority.

Teller

Shuk: Middle of Agrippas, halfway up, if you’re moving from Patichou to the open road in the shuk

7 ILS (about $2.15) traditional jelly

14 ILS (about $4.30) fancy

Finally, we were able to try a Dubai Chocolate sufganiya. Teller’s is called Dubai Pistachio, and it looks like it’s covered in blond hair. Kinda creepy but intriguing, no? They also had a Trix Cereal variety and, while we’re Americans, all my kids were born here so they knew enough to make a face and pass it by.

In addition to the Hairy Dubai (pictured above, artistic license, that’s what we called it), we tasted their Cariot (what’s with Teller and cereal-based sufganiyot?), Chocolate Hazelnut, and traditional jelly. The Hairy Dubai stabs you on entry. The topping is crunchy so there are a thousand tiny swords attacking while you try to taste it, which is very distracting. Although the flavor is great, we are a non-violent family, so no go. On to their Cariot (a common nougat-filled cereal) offering, and while it definitely tasted exactly like Cariot, we felt it was wrong in a sufganiya. Their Chocolate Hazelnut is worthwhile, not exceptional, but their traditional jelly was outstanding. Light, airy dough, almost crispy, high quality jelly. Finalist, no question.

Duvshanit

Shuk: 2 locations, one on Agrippas 50 meters past Teller on your way up the hill, and the second on the open road of the shuk

8 ILS (about $2.45) traditional jelly

10 ILS (about $3.10) fancy

A classic Israeli vendor, Duvshanit has been a past winner in the traditional jelly category. We went to their Agrippas location this year, instead of the open road location of years past, only because the line was shorter, and we wondered if we were at the same vendor at all. While their perfect, award-winning dough was consistent, they cheaped out this year on the jelly. Think find-me-in-an-avalanche iridescent orange. We were left in a conundrum — the best dough we’d had all day with the worst jelly. We also sampled their White Chocolate Cream, and it was sweeter than Lechem Talmi’s! It was the most sugar in one bite we’d had all day, and by this time, we’d had… some sugar. My youngest’s favorite of the day — if you want sweet, go Duvshanit!

Haba

Shuk: open road, if you’re walking from Agrippas to Jaffa Road, it’s almost at the end on the left, no sign

7 ILS (about $2.15) traditional jelly

An Israeli institution, Haba has offered us a sordid history. They have championed the traditional jelly category by a landslide several times, but they are constantly relocating, hard to find, refuse to bow to social pressure in terms of signage, and are often yelling. We got smart this year and sent our oldest on a search to ferret them out, rather than dragging our entire party to look in all the alleyways. She found them, but only because of the name on their teudat kashrut (kosher certification). Not only did they not have a sign that said Haba, they were packaging their sufganiyot in Marzipan Bakery boxes! Same owner? Box heist? Who knows? Maybe they simply prefer to remain clandestine.

The Nancy Drew work was worth it: the sufganiyot were HOT. They were the only hot ones we got all day, from 10 vendors. 

The angels sang. 

We’d prefer that jelly of a bit higher quality, but crisp on the outside, airy on the inside, plenty of jelly, sold by and to people screaming at each other, this is the ultimate classic jelly sufganiya. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Roladin

Shuk: On Jaffa Road, across from the open road, right near the light rail stop

8 ILS (about $2.45) traditional jelly

15 – 20 ILS (about $4.65 – $6.20) fancy

The most expensive options all day, we used to rebuke Roladin because of the price (where do they get off charging 20 ILS for a sufganiya?). Plus it’s a chain and I am pro-small business. But we started including them three years ago as my kids insisted, since Roladin’s portfolio is basically an extreme candy extravaganza and my kids couldn’t resist. As Roladin took first place in last year’s fancy category, we (I) have learned to be more flexible (“Mommy, stop being political with your purchases; it’s just a doughnut” — I can’t help it! This is efficacy!) and that flexibility was worthwhile again this year.

While we sampled their traditional jelly (unimpressive,) we also tried their Dark Chocolate Coffee (pictured above), which was instantly a finalist. It’s multi-layered and sophisticated: chocolate, coffee, then a hidden chocolate ball in the middle as a bonus! It was unanimously the best fancy one we had eaten all day. Their Lemon-Raspberry Merengue was excellent but the flavor was not as good as Patichou’s. We also tasted their Krembo Chocolate Hazelnut which looks incredibly highbrow, but didn’t taste as good as it looked, and almost broke my dad’s jaw trying to get it all in.

Helen Family Bakers

In town: Technically, they’re on Agrippas, but it’s right at the beginning near King George, where no cars are allowed

18 ILS (about $5.55) fancy

A newcomer (opened in March of this year), I have never seen a line out the door of a Jerusalem bakery except for Brooklyn Bakery (and those are Americans waiting in that line so it almost doesn’t count). This bakery had a bouncer and a red velvet rope.

No joke. She was friendly and gracious, but you were not getting across that velvet rope unless she said so. And they need her. Once I entered, I understood why. Eggs benedict on brioche for takeout in Jerusalem!

I am an eggs benedict freak and I’ll tell you: nowhere. I have looked. Camembert cranberry sandwiches? Slices of chocolate cake that are so dark they are beckoning black holes of cocoa inviting just you? I just stared and drooled for the first 10 minutes before my eyes could even see past the pastries to the sufganiyot. These people are not kidding. Yes, I bought an eggs benedict-to-go. But I digress. 

They only had 5 kinds of sufganiyot (which, since we had come from Roladin, seemed minimal), but it’s apparently quality over quantity in there. They don’t seem to officially name their sufganiyot like Roladin does (no giant board with pictures and descriptions), but perhaps they have no need. We tried their chocolate offering and while the filling was fabulous the dough was lacking.

What seemed to be a honey variety was incredibly sophisticated — the honey topping was shiny and crunchy (but did not assault us like Hairy Dubai), and there were two layers of filling — vanilla cream and caramel. The caramel was real caramel, not butterscotch, and we kind of felt like we weren’t grown up enough to appreciate this mastery. We moved onwards to their lemon and were blown away.

It’s near perfection (no filling on first bite so imperfect but still incredible.) An instant finalist in the fancy category, and we were satiated by then, but had to try sufganiya #48 — the last one — Helen’s raspberry.

There is nothing like this sufganiya.

Revolutionary.

We had tasted 47 doughnuts throughout the day (to be fair, we were 9 tasters in total, which works out to 5 sufganiyot per person. Did I just say that out loud?), so we were kind of fried (see what I did there?), but a commitment is a commitment. The last one of the day was the powerhouse. We hit filling on first bite, consistency of the filling is spectacular, and each one of us opened our eyes as wide as they would go when we tasted it, from age 82 to age 9, and all agreed.

After considerable debate, here is 2025’s verdict:

Winner of the fancy category: Tied for first place are Roladin’s Dark Chocolate Coffee and Helen’s Family Bakery’s Raspberry Delight (we don’t actually know the official name)

Winner of the traditional jelly category: Haba, which if I pronounce “Haba” instead of “Chaba” one more time, my colleagues will strangle me. 

The point of this whole ridiculous, sugar-soaked enterprise is ritual. In a year that was heavier than most — even when we pretended it wasn’t — we ate high-ticket delicacies that were absurdly joyful, argued passionately about jelly quality, and listened (for once) when Israelis told us what we were doing wrong.

Eleven years into our tradition, I can say this with confidence: sufganiyot are never just doughnuts for our family. They’re how we mark time, assert normalcy, and insist on sweetness in our lives.

Have a marvelous, healthy, safe Hanukkah… and may your jelly always appear on the first bite!