Move over, latkes; sufganiyot are here to take over this year’s Hanukkah celebrations. Admittedly, that’s an exaggeration—but the fried doughnuts that have long been popular in Israel are increasingly being served during the Jewish Festival of Lights here as well.
Liv Breads in Millburn sells thousands of these each holiday season. While they have experimented in the past with different flavors, this year they’re sticking with the most popular fillings: strawberry and Nutella. (I can vouch for how delicious they are after a recent tasting.)
Liv also offers a twist on their sufganiyot: They’re baked rather than fried, even though the latter is more traditional for Hanukkah, since the cooking oil represents the oil that was traditionally used to light the menorah.
“We’ve always done baked sufganiyot; our customers like that ours aren’t fried because, I think, they taste better and don’t get as greasy,” says Elana Livneh, who has owned the bakery with her husband, Yaniv, and their partners for the past seven years. “A doughnut is meant to be fresh. We’re a bakery, so we take our brioche doughnuts, bake them, fill them, and then dust them with powdered sugar. They’re light and airy, and not as heavy and dense as fried sufganiyot.”
While latkes, or potato pancakes, have long been a more traditional way for American Jews to celebrate Hanukkah, over the years sufganiyot have become more popular.
Some people just go to Dunkin’ Donuts and buy a jelly doughnut, but it’s not quite the same thing, says Livneh, because sufganiyot are traditionally lighter and airier than a typical dense Dunkin’ treat.
Liv Breads offers pre-orders for sufganiyot on its website, as well as online sales and walk-ins. Liv also has an outpost at the Mall at Short Hills.
Sufganiyot are available at various other specialty bakeries around the state, including Butterflake Bakery in Teaneck.
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