Monday Munchies: Chanuka edition (including GF option!)

 Chanuka is the festival of lights-lights that are created through the use of oil.  The miracle is that the oil that should have only lasted for one night, lasted for eight!  Which is why oil is the prevalent theme on Chanuka. How do we make oil prevalent you might ask? Well, one answer is through food of course! Lots of fried, oily foods!  Two traditional oily foods are potato latkes and sufganiyot (donuts in Hebrew).  You can find my latke recipe here.  It's been a few years since I've made these and they did not disappoint. I find that thicker is better!  

A few years ago, I tried a different donut recipe every night, but again since I hadn't made donuts in awhile didn't necessarily know which one to use from personal experience, except my close friend always has great success with hers.  The truth is, I've never actually tasted hers, but they look fantastic! Lucky for you, she's letting me share it with you here!  

Tamar's Chanuka Donuts

11/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup shortening 

41/2 teaspoons yeast 

2 eggs beaten

1/4 cup sugar 

51/2 cups flour 

11/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

pinch cardamom (optional)

Heat 11/2 cups milk until hot (does not need to boil, but should be hot enough to melt the shortening). Place the shortening into the pot and mix until melted.   Set aside. 

In a separate bowl, preferably one with a mixing attachment, dissolve the yeast into the 1/3 cup milk, the milk should be warm.  Remember, if it's too hot the yeast can be killed! Let stand 5 minutes.  I added one tablespoon of sugar, and added less later on.  Then add the milk and shortening mixture, salt, eggs, nutmeg, and half the flour.  Mix with a mixing attachment.  Add in the remaining flour until a dough forms.  When making dough, it's important that while it may seem sticky at first, stickier is better than drier-you will add more flour when you roll the dough, and that is when you will make it the right consistency.  Once your dough is formed, you can lift it up all around to spray with cooking spray so it won't stick to the bowl.  Or, you could oil a new bowl and transfer the dough.  Cover, and let rise until doubled in size-an hour or hour and a half should be enough.  

Remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface and roll into an inch thick.  Cut into circles (I used a glass) and cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.  

Heat your oil (about 2-3 inches deep) to 350 degrees.  This can take some time, be patient!  Once it's ready, drop your donuts in flipping to the other side when browned to your liking.

 The hotter the oil gets, the less time it will need to cook on each side.  

Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon, or what is called a spider strainer skimmer.  

The topping and filling options are endless! We rolled into cinnamon and sugar, filled with jelly, made our own Boston Cream and filled with caramel.  

I also used this recipe to make a gluten free donut and I also substituted all the dairy with non-dairy products, and it worked out fabulously.  The initial dough will be batter consistency, but will rise and look like dough.  However, it will still have a lose batter like consistency, but after working GF flour onto the surface, it will quickly take shape and be able to be rolled and cut.  Do not fear!  This dough takes a lot of rise time, so don't forget to take that into account!  

Fill away!  

And for those of you who say this looks complicated, it really isn't.  The hardest part is like with any dough, you can't kill the yeast.  If you make challah, you can definitely handle donuts-it is time consuming though.  If you haven't made challah, err on the side of cooler with your liquid used to activate the yeast and just follow the instructions.  Give it a try!