Chanukah is traditionally a time for family and friends to gather
at parties, eat latkes, sing songs and play dreidel. On a deeper level, it can
be a time of introspection on the miraculous lights. However esoteric it
is, I cannot help but meditate on donuts (sufganiyot in Israel).
How can an oily, fried food be a source of inspiration? Just
head to your nearest Roladin Bakery where they have taken the plain, jelly-filled
donut and given it a total makeover. Each season, their newest, famous designer
donuts parade the bakery catwalk as they lead the way in the
haute couture of Chanukah cuisine. Here is their sophisticated 2019 winter line up, complete
with accoutrements and appliques.
Truffe 🌰
Chocolate cream filling, glacage noir, dark chocolate
shavings with a dash of cocoa and hazelnut
Fairy Burst 🧚♀
Blondie cream filling with a chaser
of caramel hazelnut whipped cream topped with a hazelnut Breton biscuit
Chouquette
Blondie ganache, caramel glacage laced with bitter chocolate,
profiterole served with a chaser of hazelnut chocolate
Isfahan
Mascarpone cream, raspberries, chaser of roses, berries and
whipped cream
Macaron
Cream of mascarpone, mango and passion fruit, almond macaron
and whipped cream
St. Honore
Mascarpone forest berries, red fruits and profiteroles
Glimpses of Pecan
Dolce creme of banana, caramel glacage, caramelized pecan, whipped cream and toffee
chaser
Pistache
Variegato pistachio crunch, whipping cream, topped with a
Breton biscuit
Baaba Rum
Sufganiya in
sugar syrup, whipped cream, cherry amarena with a dark rum chaser
Chocolate Chic
Creamy-like chocolate with pearl icing, topped with
chocolate crunch
Chocolate Party
Chocolate candy pops on top with a chocolate crunch filling
Vanilla Cookie Cream
Creme Patisserie, glace noir, cookie crumble, whipped cream and chunks
of Oreo
Whipped Cream
Whipped cream with glace noir
Dolce
Classic caramel cream
Classic Strawberry
Classic strawberry jam
Each year, the donut season here seems to lengthen – one barely
puts away their Sukkah decorations when Chanukah donuts glisten, beckoning from
bakery shelves. Our challenge is when we should give into temptation and eat a sufganiya.
It has such value, it has become a machloket in our family, my daughter holding off
till Rosh Chodesh Kislev and my machmir son waiting until erev Chanukah. I am proud to say that I was able to wait until after we lit
the first Chanukah candle.
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| Sufganiya poster at Roladin Cafe |
Why such a fuss over donuts? Every
Jewish holiday (except the fast days of Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av) has a serious gourmet food element. Here is how the sufganiya sweetly combines history and culture.
The interesting story behind the donut is that it was
promoted by the Histadrut Labor Federation in the 1920s in order to create jobs
for new immigrants to Israel. Chanukah latkes are easy to make at home, but donuts
require technique and special equipment. Thus, the Histradrut promoted the first
Israeli donut and named it sufganiya after the word ‘sfog’ which means ‘to blot’
or ‘sponge’ in Hebrew.
They were not the first to call a Chanukah delicacy by this
word. The father of the Rambam, who lived in Spain in the twelfth century, chastised
those who disdained eating fried dough treats on Chanukah by writing, “One must not make light of the custom of
eating sofganim on Chanukah.
It is a custom of the Kadmonim.” The Kadmonim he spoke of are the ancient ones,
implying that this Sephardi tradition goes way back.
It was the
Ashkenazi Jews who contributed the jelly filling aspect to this doughy delicacy, using the
first jelly donut recipe was that was published in Germany in 1532. It quickly spread across
Europe and the Polish kosher version (frying them in goose fat as opposed to
pig lard) soon become known as ‘ponchiks.’
In the 20th
century, when East met West right in the Middle (East), these desserts morphed with
delicious results. And as new immigrants came, they brought their own versions.
The Argentinians introduced the popular ‘ribat chalav’ or caramel flavor. And
then innovative Roladin, thinking out of the donut box akin to any Israeli start
up, took sufganiyot to the next level.
Our family's tradition
is to light the Chanukah candles and stare at the flickering flames followed by
a good, long, appreciative stare at our box of Roladin sufganiyot. And you know
what happens next!
There is a
rather unusual biblical interpretation on the word Sufganiya. If you look at
the word as sof-gan, indicating the ‘end of the Garden of Eden’ followed by the
Hebrew letters yud and hey (two letters of the Divine name), one may argue that
after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, G-d appeased their
pain with sufganiyot. (However, given the caloric content of these modern-day donuts, Adam would need true will power to say 'no'!)
Betayavon
Happy Chanukah!
