Hanukkah was THE major Jewish holiday in my family growing up. Controversial, I know! But for nearly have of my childhood, I grew up in the South, isolated from other Jewish families in general and the rest of my Jewish family that lived primarily in New York.
So, is it really that surprising that when everyone around us was making a huge deal about “the holidays” (when what they really meant was Christmas), my family got hype for Hanukkah? Plus, I was a pre-teen and teenager at the time, so of course I was excited about presents.
But my connections to Hanukkah run deeper than getting presents. In a lot of ways, it was the one way I was Jewish at the time that didn’t feel bad. I faced a lot of anti-Jewish oppression/anti-Semitism growing up in the South. My Jewish identity was the butt of a joke or used against me or the reason I couldn’t meet the extended family of my boyfriend at the time.
When I sing the prayers for lighting the candles now, I remember how it felt to be Jewish back then and I remember how far I’ve come in understanding my identity and embracing it. And, while I didn’t grow up with so many aspects of Jewish culture, I get to celebrate those aspects now because my family held on to Hanukkah back then.
One example is sufganiyot! These donuts are typically filled with jelly, although they can be filled with lots of different things (one year I filled them with cookie butter from Trader Joe’s – and y’all, that was a dang good decision). They are fried in oil (we do lots a frying for Hanukkah – maybe I’ll talk about that in my latkes post later on!), and dusted with powdered sugar.
Donuts can seem really intimidating, and I won’t say that the process of making this isn’t a least a little laborious – there are several steps and you do have to knead the dough for about 15 minutes. But there aren’t any fancy techniques necessary to make these, you just have to be willing to put in the time and effort.
My biggest tips for getting these donuts right are making sure to set out your vegan milk to warm to room temperature and allow your butter to cool to room temperature before you get started. I’ve even made it a step in the recipe – that’s how important it is! If you don’t do this step, the donuts will not rise properly. They’ll still taste good, but they won’t get as fluffy.
This recipe also uses aquafaba, or the liquid that comes in a can of chickpeas. Ensuring that the aquafaba is properly beaten is important as well. When you flip over the hand mixer, the aquafaba should form a “V” shape and should keep it’s form – then you’ll know you have stiff peaks. One great thing about aquafaba is that if it starts dissolving, you can always whip it back up.
(By the way, there are lots of recipes you can use the leftover chickpeas and aquafaba for, such as my Easy Chickpea Salad or Sundried Tomato & Chickpea Pasta or Vegan Cinnamon Rolls from Vegan Richa!
After cutting my donuts with the circle cookie cutter, I place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. For me, this makes them easy to move around as needed and prevents them from sticking to anything.
When you’re ready to fry your donuts, be sure not to crowd your pot. I’ve generally been able to do 3-4 at a time, but depending on the size of your pot you may be able to fit more or less. You want to make sure they have room to expand and move around in the pot. Starting out with fewer donuts and adding more as you go is a good way to figure out how many you can reasonably fit.
Lastly, using a skewer or chopstick to poke through to the center of your donut is a great way to make sure your jelly can easily fill to the center of your donut. Dust with powdered sugar before you’re ready to serve them. These donuts will last about one day in an airtight container. They are definitely best served fresh, so I recommend sharing with family, friends, or neighbors (wear your masks!!).
Sweeten up your Hanukkah with my Vegan Sufganiyot Recipe! I would love the hear how this recipe goes for you and what your filled your donuts with. Let me know in the comments or message me at @thejewishvegan on Instagram. And, as always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out. Now, let’s get started!
Easy Vegan Sufganiyot (Hanukkah Jelly-Filled Donuts)
Equipment
- candy thermometer
- large pot for frying
- slotted spoon
- chopstick or wooden skewer
- piping bag
- 2 inch circular cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 2 chia eggs 2tbsp ground chia, 6tbsp water
- 3 tbsp aquafaba the liquid from a can of chickpeas
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp non-dairy milk at room temp
- ½ cup + 1 tsp non-dairy butter melted (then cooled to room temp)
- 4 cups + 5 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp dry active yeast
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp water divided in half
- 5 cups vegetable oil approximately, for frying
- Fillings as desired like jellies, jams, chocolate spreads, etc.
- powdered sugar for dusting on top
Instructions
- Set your non-dairy milk out to warm to room temperature. Melt your butter in a small saucepan and then allow to cool to room temperature. Set both aside.
- Make your chia eggs by mixing the water and chia together and setting aside for at least 5 minutes
- Sift and whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
- Place the 3tbsp of aquafaba in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer on high speed until it turns white and stiff peaks form (approximately 5-7 minutes). It can take longer depending on the shape of your bowl and how easily to the mixer can beat the aquafaba.
- Sprinkle the yeast over 3tbsp of slightly warm water. Let it sit for 5 mins or until the yeast starts to react. Sprinkling a little bit of sugar in the mixture can help the reaction occur.
- Add the yeast mixture, chia eggs, additional 3tbsp of water, milk, butter, and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients. Mix until a dough begins to form. When the mixture begins to look dough like, add the aquafaba. If the aquafaba has gotten foamy and no longer holds stiff peaks, beat again until the peaks form and then add to the dough.
- Once a soft dough forms, knead by hand in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface for 10-15 minutes. Be generous in using flour on your hands, but the dough should remain slightly tacky.
- After kneading, return the dough to the bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size. This will take approximately 30 minutes; however, the time can vary a lot depending on the temperature of your kitchen and many other factors. Try to find a warm spot in your kitchen or home to place your dough and it can speed up the process.
- After rising, divide the dough in half. Recover the second half of the dough.
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thick and use a circle cookie cutter to make donuts. Set them aside. Reroll dough as needed.
- Repeat with other half of the dough.
- Use extra dough to make donut holes by rolling into small balls.
- Heat the oil in a large pot. The amount of oil will depend on the size of your pot, but you’ll want at least 2.5 inches of oil.
- Heat the oil between 320-360 degrees F. It’s important to stay below 360 and above 320 while frying the donuts, so you’ll need to keep rechecking the oil temperature throughout and readjusting the dial.
- Place 2-3 donuts in at a time (depending on the size of your pot).
- Fry on one side until light golden brown, then flip and repeat. Remove donuts from oil and place on paper towel lined plates. Repeat with all donuts and donut holes.
- Transfer donuts to a wire rack to cool. Once completely cooled, you can fill with your choice of fillings using a piping bag.
- To fill the donuts, you'll first want to pierce through with a chopstick or skewer to the center or about 3/4 of the way through (be careful not to poke to the other side). The use a piping bag to fill the donuts.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Notes
- The donuts are best being served immediately, but can also be stored in an airtight container overnight for the next day. I would recommend waiting to dust with sugar until you’re ready to serve them.
- I filled mine with raspberry jelly and cookie butter, but the sky is the limit!
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