Hanukkah is the celebration of light. It is a joyous holiday within the Jewish tradition. It is a time to celebrate the miracle of light and to spending time with loved ones. There are eight nights during Hanukkah, and there is a big celebrating at least one of these nights where we make two of the most popular foods you will find around the Hanukkah table. My family tends to do this one of the first nights, and then we eat on the leftovers through the rest of the week. Let’s explore these yummy goodies!
Latkes (laat-kuhs)
As a mom, I am always looking for ways to get the kids to help me in the kitchen and sneakily trying to get them to each more vegetables. On Hanukkah, we eat latkes, which are potato pancakes. My family loves to make them with some zucchini mixed in or even make them with sweet potato. The kids love to help combine everything, and my older one even likes to try and help me grate everything. We make a recipe that is similar to this one: Hidden Veggie Latkes. We don’t always include the cauliflower or the onion like this recipe. You can easily make latkes with just potato, zucchini, eggs, and salt, and then fry them in a frying pan. The kids love to hear the sizzle when they hit the pan, and even though my younger one always says — ew, what’s that smell — he loves to eat these once they are cool.
We have also tried this Latke Pizza recipe on another night and had fun choosing different toppings. The kids love putting on the cheese and watching them get all melty in the oven.
Gelt
A little something special that you might find at Hanukkah is Gelt or chocolate coins, which are used when playing Dreidel. Here is a recipe for chocolate gelt if you can’t find any in the stores and want to use some when playing dreidel. We made these one year with a mold, and they turned out pretty well. It can be messy and a little time consuming, but the homemade ones tasted better than any I had found at a store.
>> RELATED READ :: Local Hanukkah Events <<
Filled Doughnuts (Sufganiyot — soof-gaa-nee-owt)
Another great recipe that the whole family loves eating during Hanukkah is sufganiyot or filled donuts. We fill them with jam or nutella, both are delicious. A few years ago, I was experimenting and figured out I could make these with canned biscuit dough and my air fryer! You can use the biscuits as a whole or cut into smaller pieces to make doughnut holes. Just put the air fryer on 350 degrees and cook for five to six minutes, flipping part way through, if they are browning too much. Once they are done, stick a sewer through the middle to create a hole to put your filling in. Let them cool a bit before you put in the filling, or it will all leak out. You can also make these with pre-made pizza dough. This is a recipe if you want to go that route: Mini Doughnut Holes.
Hanukkah is a joyous and special holiday that my family enjoys and looks forward to every year. As my kids get older, it is nice to have them joining me in the kitchen more to create recipes and continue the traditions.
Check out my other article “8 Activities to Celebrate Hanukkah” for ideas for each night of Hanukkah!
For more information on Hanukkah and to find some more family friendly recipes check out these links:
