Sufganiyot (jelly donuts)

I was looking around online for a Hanukkah cookie recipe, and I kept running into recipes for sufganiyot. Which are pretty much jelly donuts. And who doesn't like a good jelly donut? Although, my absolute favorite are maple donuts...which my parents used to bribe my sister and I with when we were little to get us to stop pinching each other in church. It worked.



Some methods are to make a sort of dough sandwich with jelly in the middle and fry it, and others are to fry a dough ball and then inject jelly. I went with the first method. This recipe is slightly adapted from the Children's Jewish Holiday Kitchen, by way of epicurious.com.

1 scant tablespoon (1 package) dry yeast
4 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for dusting.
3/4 cup lukewarm milk or warm water*
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter or pareve margarine, softened*
Raspberry (or strawberry, or apricot) preserves
Sugar
Canola oil for deep-frying
*Use butter and milk if serving at a milk meal, and water and pareve margarine for a meat meal

Mix together the yeast, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the milk. Let sit to make sure it bubbles - it should look like it has a thick foam on top.



Mix flour, remaining sugar, salt, cinnamon, and egg yolks. Add to the yeast mixture. Knead the dough until it forms a ball. Add the butter or margarine. Knead some more, until the butter is well absorbed.



Cover with a towel and let rise on the countertop for 2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator. The dough will double in size.



Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut out the dough into rounds with a juice glass, or any object about 2 inches in diameter. Take 1/2 teaspoon of preserves and place in center of each half of the rounds.



Top with the other rounds. Press down at edges, sealing with egg whites. Crimping with the thumb and second finger is best. Roll out the dough scraps and repeat. Let rise for about 30 minutes.



Heat 2 inches of oil to between 350° and 375°. Drop the donuts into the hot oil, about 3 at a time. Turn to brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.



Roll in, or dust with sugar.



That's it! This recipe makes about 12 donuts. They cook very quickly in the hot oil, barely a couple minutes. And they're definitely best eaten right away...ok on the second day, but not nearly as good. They're kind of a cross between donuts and beignets. Other good fillings would be different flavors of jelly, or chocolate or vanilla cream, nutella, or dulce de leche. Mmm. Happy Hanukkah!