Cooking the Chronicle – Dec 20

The minute the chaggim are over in Israel, bakeries slowly start rolling out the sufganiyot. It’s one of things I miss most about living in Jerusalem. We would spend all of Cheshvan and Kislev popping around the shuk and our neighborhood bakeries, sampling the classics (jelly and dulce de leche) and the decadent ones that you had to wait in long lines to try. We would eagerly wait to see the sufganiyot line up from Roladin and what silly gimmick they would come up with for the year. We even hosted sufganiyot taste tests with friends, looking for the best donut the city had to offer.

Nothing in the United States quite compares. I love an American-style donut, but come Hanukkah, I dream of the no-frills sufganiyot you find in Machane Yehudah or packaged up at Osher Ad, and I miss waiting in line for hours at Kadosh for their donuts decorated with homemade jellies and marshmallows.

Despite my love for this season, I’ve actually never attempted to make my own sufganiyot and felt quite intimidated looking at the recipe this week (“Salted vanilla cream sufganyot,” Dec 20). This was not something that you throw together after dinner in 30 minutes. It’s a three-part endeavor that requires you to make a dough, pastry cream, and ganache. I prepared our toddler that this project would take time and I blocked off all of Sunday to tackle the three parts.

Let’s start with the dough. This was by far my favorite part of the recipe. It came together easily, was soft, pliable, and not-too-sweet. When it hit the oil, the dough puffed up beautifully. A few things I learned—forming smaller balls is better and ensured that the dough cooks through fully. And once the balls are formed, resting on parchment paper and have their second rise, don’t press them down again. Preserving that air in the dough makes for a super light donut in the end.

Then we tackled the pastry cream. I have also never made pastry cream in my life, but immediately felt like I was ready to whip up some “creme pat” on The Great British Baking Show. I battled many lumps through this process and Jessica Grann’s tip about using a sieve to remove lumps saved me. This is definitely the part of the recipe I would like to experiment with and try again. How do you keep it smooth as it thickens over heat? It just seemed prone to clumping up. Lower heat, perhaps? Bookmarking this for future testing. Also one note—Grann’s recipe does not include any sugar in the pastry cream. I am not sure if this is standard for pastry cream, but I felt like it needed a bit of sweetness, so I sprinkled a tablespoon of powdered sugar in.

Next, the ganache. Instead of chocolate chips, I used two high quality dark chocolate bars that I was gifted and saving for a special occasion. I am glad I did—I thought the dark chocolate pairs so nicely with the sprinkle of flakey salt at the end. This ganache was smooth, firmed up nicely, and you could easily take a spoon and smear each sufganiyah across the top. We were eating this by the spoonful, so go ahead and consider doubling the recipe from the start.

Each element came together nicely, but hit another roadblock. I did not think at all about how to pipe the pastry cream into the donut. Although I love baking, I do not have piping tips and icing bags sitting around. Investigating the photos Grann included with the recipe, it looks like she tore or cut into the donut herself. So we cut ours in half, loaded in the pastry cream with a spoon, and slicked ganache across the top. At first bite, I was very happy with the sweetness level—no element was achingly sugary, they all had a nice balance. My whole family taste tested the end results and we decided these definitely had the vibes of an éclair or Boston cream pie.

Hanukkah wouldn’t be Hanukkah without a jelly-filled donut, so we also made a few with stuffed with jam and covered with powdered sugar. If you’re looking for a classic, borderline cloyingly sweet donut, this is for you. But you could truly go with any fillings—the dough is versatile and would work with many flavors.

This was a truly fun way to spend a Sunday and put our family in the Hanukkah mood! These are definitely best fresh, so consider hosting friends or serving these at a party to work through the two dozen donuts it made. We could only make it through about six sufganiyot before calling it quits for the day.