Latkes:
Wonderful, classic recipe. The russets worked great. Having no cheesecloth handy, we squeezed out the liquid using a thin cloth napkin. We did, however, continually squeeze out more liquid as we formed each latke. The homemade applesauce was lovely and was the perfect accompaniment to the crispy latkes.
One thing we realized, though, is that there is a genuine skill to frying – one we haven’t quite mastered. It’s a fine balance between keeping the pan the right temperature (and not smoking!) and using the exact right amount of oil. If you’ve got a griddle at home this would be the ideal time to use it.
Sufganiyot:
The sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) were a bit trickier. We went ahead and tried baking them, which turned out surprisingly well, although biting into them didn’t elicit that gut recognition of the real Israeli version. They resembled – unsurprisingly – cake doughnuts.
Our one complaint about this recipe was the assembly bit. We would not recommend inserting the jam before baking. Attaching the tops and bottoms using egg white became a slippery mess and the doughnuts did not reform into a single ball. Taking them out of the oven they looked more like doughnut sandwiches than a classic jam doughnut.
With the extra dough we fried up some doughnut holes which we then spread with jam. Guess which ones were better?
Let us know how your Chanukah recipes turned out!
Is there such a thing as a latke, as a sufganiah, which is low cholesterol, low fat, low salt, etc.? Not everyone is allowed to eat the “full brand.”
@Healthy in Denver
Good question. With latkes, it’s probably near impossible. Same for real suganiyot.
For our baked version, though, one could substitute margarine for the butter and it wouldn’t be too unhealthy. The recipe only calls for two eggs and very little sugar, so from the caloric and cholesterol content it’s not too bad.