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Sufganiyah ( or סופגניה, ; : sufganiyot, Hebrew: סופגניות, , or in Yiddish פּאָנטשקע) is a round, jelly doughnut like pastry, eaten around the world during the Judaism festival of Hanukkah. The doughnut is deep-fried, injected with fruit preserves or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar. The doughnut recipe originated in Europe in the 16th century, and by the 19th century was known as a Berliner in Germany and a Religieuse in France. Polish Jews, who called it a ponchki, fried the doughnut in schmaltz rather than lard due to kashrut laws. The ponchik was brought to Israel by Polish Jewish immigrants, where it was renamed the sufganiyah based on the Talmud's description of a "spongy dough".
A popular Israeli folklore holds that the word " sufganiyah" comes from the Hebrew expression " Sof Gan Yud-Heh" ("סוף גן יה"), meaning "the end of the Garden of the Yahweh" (referring to the Garden of Eden). According to the legend, when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden by the Lord, He cheered them up by feeding them sufganiyot. No known commentator on the Tanakh supports this interpretation.
Among Polish Jews, the jelly doughnut was fried in oil or schmaltz rather than lard, due to kashrut laws. In Poland, these doughnuts were known as ponchkis. Polish Jewish immigrants to Mandatory Palestine brought along their recipe as well as the tradition of eating them on Hanukkah. In Israel, however, they took on a new name— sufganiyot—based on the Talmud's description of a "spongy dough" (see the Etymology section).
Modern-day sufganiyot in Israel are made from sweet yeast dough, filled with plain red jelly (usually strawberry, sometimes raspberry), and topped with powdered sugar. Fancier versions are stuffed with dulce de leche, chocolate cream, vanilla cream, cappuccino, halva, creme espresso, chocolate truffle, or araq, and topped with various extravagant toppings, from coconut shavings and tiny vials of liquor to meringue and fruit pastes. In 2014 one Jerusalem bakery produced sufganiyah dough saturated with flavored vodka.
Today sufganiyot are sold by Israeli bakeries as early as September. Angel Bakeries, the largest bakery in Israel, reportedly fries up more than 25,000 sufganiyot every day during the eight-day Hanukkah festival itself. Each batch uses of dough and makes 1,600 sufganiyot. Local newspapers add to the excitement by rating the "best sufganiyah in town".
The Ministry of Defense buys upwards of 400,000 sufganiyot for its soldiers each Hanukkah. As the troops overwhelmingly prefer jelly-filled doughnuts, the Defense Ministry purchases 80% with jelly filling and 20% with chocolate filling.
The sufganiyah was introduced by American Jews who had visited or studied in Israel, and by Israeli Jews who had settled in the U.S. While sufganiyot were not commercially available in the United States before the 1970s, today bakeries in many Jewish communities sell sufganiyot, as do non-kosher bakeries. The doughnut chains Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme purvey sufganiyot in their Hechsher outlets.
Sufganiyot are also sold in kosher shops in Europe. Smaller Jewish communities in Russia and Ukraine organize special "community bakes" to prepare sufganiyot for school and kindergarten parties.
In other Jewish communities
Sufganiyot are a relatively recent introduction to the United States, where Latke are the traditional Hanukkah food. According to Gil Marks, latke was still the dominant choice in American Jewish homes in 2012. Rabbi Levi Shemtov in 2019 said, "Latkes used to dominate in the U.S., while doughnuts dominated in Israel. Now, I think both are equally popular in the U.S."
Savory varieties
Savory sufganiyot also exist. In 2018, The Jerusalem Post reported on a new trend of savory sufganiyot in Manhattan eateries, in which the dough is filled with chicken schnitzel, lamb bacon, liver, or pastrami. Other savory varieties include:
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