A Jewish Hanukkah Sweet

THE GOLDBERG FAMILY


Every December, Alisa and Harold Goldberg give what they call the standard Hanukkah lecture. "Hanukkah," they tell their children, "is all well and good, but it's not as important a holiday as Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah or Passover. It only gets a lot of notice because it falls close to Christmas."

That said, the Goldberg kids, Samuel, Anna and Jacob, thoroughly enjoy themselves for those eight cold days. The two oldest children have made their own menorahs and like to count up their Hanukkah gelt (coins, in this case made of chocolate), play dreidel and help out with the cooking.

Alisa and Harold always tell the kids the story of how during the Maccabean War, there seemd to be only enough oil to keep candles lit at the temple for one day, but instead it lasted for a miraculous eight. This gives us the eight days of Hanukkah and the symbolic use of oil in the meals.

As a family, the Goldbergs have been making sufganiyot, an Israeli doughnut, for years. This recipe comes from THE JEWISH HOLIDAY KITCHEN by Joan Nathan (Random House/Schocken Books, $20).

SUFGANIYOT

Ingredients

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
4 tablespoons sugar, plus sugar for rolling
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons softened butter, at room temperature
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Plum, strawberry, or apricot preserves

Directions
Dissolve the yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar in the milk. Let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour and place it on a cutting board, making a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into the well and add the egg yolks, salt, cinnamon and the remaining sugar. Knead well. Work the butter into the mixture and knead until the dough is elastic. Cover and let rise overnight in the refrigerator.
Sprinkle a little flour on a board. Roll the dough out to 1/8 of an inch. With a drinking glass, cut the dough into rounds about 2 inches in diameter. Cover and let rise for an additional 15 minutes. Form the rounds of dough into balls. Insert 1 teaspoon of jam into each and enclose completely. Pour 2 inches of oil into an electric frying pan and heat to 375 degrees.

Gently drop the doughnuts into the oil, 4 or 5 at a time, turning when brown. Drain on paper towels. When slightly cooled, roll in sugar and serve immediately. Makes about 24 doughnuts.

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