Moroccan Sfinge Donuts For Chanukah!
Tonight on the 8th and final night of Chanukah we enjoyed a Moroccan treat call sfinge, which are basically fried yeast donuts, and perfect for Chanukah, on account of all the oil that is needed to fry them, yikes. In case you are wondering about that cactus in the middle of the donuts, well that happens to be our sugar bowl (of sorts, it actually has a cover as well) and it was a great call by my daughter to place it in the dish as it makes the whole thing look so festive, right? If you ever come upon a little plastic container with a cactus that is meant for q-tips, snatch it up to use as a sugar bowl, you’ll thank me! Okay, lest I digress, back to the sfinge!
Fried foods aren’t something I ever make, for health reasons, but once a year to honor Chanukah is fine by me. These donuts were actually made by my teen daughter, who is quite the baker, and the results were amazing. My husband, who grew up eating these Moroccan donuts with honey was quiet impressed, and now it looks like we’ll be making these donuts every year, together with the traditional Ashkenazic potato latkes, on different nights of course! I won’t plan on having sfinge except on Chanukah, but it is a treat made year round in many homes, and is apparently sold on the street from vending carts in Morocco. Speaking of Morocco, now that Israel has made peace with Morocco there are at long last direct flights, which means it will be so much easier for us to go there, hopefully in the not too distant future. (And yes, direct flights and a welcome wagon for Israelis/Jews is also now happening in Dubai and Bahrain, which in itself is a miracle, but I think I’ll stick with Morocco for now.)
Sfinge is an airy and very light doughnut made with a sticky, almost batter-like yeasted dough that fries up like an Italian zeppole. To make these donuts find a recipe for the dough, and let it rise for at least an hour. Once puffed up, and with a pot of oil piping hot, use wet hands to simply pinch off a knob of the batter and gently stretch the bit of dough into a ring shape before dropping it into the hot oil. Place on paper towels to absorb some of the oil, sprinkle with sugar or powdered sugar, and/or serve with honey.
Sfinge is generally not nearly as nicely shaped as this one, meaning no perfect donut shapes by any means, and that is how it goes with Moroccan donuts!
