Hanukkah Flavors

 Hanukkah in Israel is syfganiot (doughnuts) filled traditionally with jelly, in recent years also dulche-de-leche or chocolate.

In Ashkenazim families it is also potato latkes, Here are my, a bit burned. I finally own  a food processor and can shred the potatoes in minutes.

In my husband's Sephardi family of North African origin Hanukkah food are sfinge and fricasse. Fricasse is a fried dough sandwich filled with tuna, pickled lemon, spicy harissa, sweet carrot salad, potato and onion salad and olives.  Sfinge is a sweet treat: rig-shaped fried dough dipped in sugar.

For me any meal is not complete if it doesn't include tahini. I became a tahini freak ever since we returned to Israel making it from the raw state almost daily and ordering any tahini-containing dish at the restaurants. This Hanukkah I learned to make simple and delicious tahini cookies. 

Try it yourself:

3 cups of flour

1 cup of raw tahini from the can

1 cup sugar

baking powder

200 gram soft butter (not salted)

Mix it all, make 40-50 little balls, place them on a parchment paper 2" away from each other, can add a nut on top of each ball, bake for 15 min at 350F (180C). They will still be soft when you take them out and slowly harden. Cool and keep in a sealed container. Enjoy!