Homemade Holiday Donuts

6 Ways to Celebrate the Holidays With Doughnuts

Fry up sufganiyot or sfinj for Hanukkah, or take on a doughnut hole croquembouche for Christmas.

Published on November 30, 2023

Cinnamon-Cardamom Sufganiyot. Photo:
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Ali Ramee / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

Doughnuts are a holiday tradition in Jewish culture. Fried foods represent when a day's worth of oil lasted eight nights from a miracle at the Temple of Jerusalem. Jelly-filled sufganiyot are a tradition in Israel and crispy, airy sfinj are more common in Morocco. Fry any of our five Hanukkah doughnuts for your celebration or craft a croquembouche centerpiece with doughnut holes for Christmas, thanks to Paola Velez's version. There's a doughnut recipe to sweeten any celebration this season.

01 of 06

Old-Fashioned Doughnut Croquembouche

Old-Fashioned Donut Croquembouche — Photo by Sarah Crowder / Food Styling by Drew Aichele

2021 F&W Best New Chef Paola Velez's variation on a traditional croquembouche features homemade cinnamon doughnuts instead of cream puffs. It's ready in an hour and a half and can be made ahead.

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02 of 06

Cinnamon-Cardamom Sufganiyot

Chef and TikTok celebrity Eitan Bernath’s fluffy, spiced sufganiyots are fried to golden brown, rolled in cinnamon-sugar and filled with a cardamom-spiced pastry cream.

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03 of 06

Hanukkah Doughnuts

Hebrew for doughnuts, sufganiyot are the most popular Hanukkah food in Israel. These fried treats are simply made from balls of yeast dough and filled with chocolate, creams, curd, or jam, as Andrew Zimmern's recipe calls for here.

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04 of 06

Doughnut Holes with Raspberry Jam

These light, crisp, sugared doughnut holes with sweet-tart raspberry jam from chef and recipe developer Ginevra Iverson are mini sufganiyot, ideal for sharing throughout Hanukkah.

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05 of 06

Sfinj

These luscious Moroccan doughnuts are crispy on the outside and very fluffy and airy on the inside. They're typically served for Hanukkah with sugar or honey, but New York Shuk founders Leetal and Ron Arazi share this recipe with a saffron and cardamom syrup.

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06 of 06

Doughnuts in Cardamom Syrup

Dipped in cardamom-rose water syrup and sliced almonds, Esther Sabach's doughnuts are a nod to Sephardic Jewish cooking traditions and ideal for serving during Hanukkah.

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