Tidbits

Roladin has some excellent sufganiyot for those who don't want to stuff themselves with calorie-loaded greasy doughnuts.

By EVA BEN-DAVID
sufganyot 88 (photo credit: )
sufganyot 88
(photo credit: )
Hanukka sufganiyot (doughnuts) are on sale everywhere. We were lucky enough to try a few samples of some special sufganiyot, even though my kids still prefer the simple ones filled with strawberry jelly. Roladin has some excellent sufganiyot for those who don't want to stuff themselves with calorie-loaded greasy doughnuts. This bakery makes whole-wheat sufganiyot with chocolate and chocolate chips, or with fruit jelly, without added sugar, that contain only 110 calories apiece (a regular doughnut contains about 400). We especially appreciated the sufganiyot filled with pistachio cream and with a white chocolate cover and pistachio nuts; the kids got a bang out of the chocolate and sprinkles sufganiya containing sprinkles that "explode" in your mouth. Other exotic flavors are the Indian "Banufi" sufganiya (with chocolate, banana, caramel, with a cover of chocolate, almonds, and coconut), the halva-Irish cream sufganiya, or the Havana sufganiya (with chocolate boiled in coconut milk and espresso); prices vary from NIS 4 to NIS 7. English Cake went all out this year with some very special and yummy sufganiyot, such as the "porcupine," filled with chocolate or vanilla cream and covered with dark or white Belgian chocolate "spines," or the one filled with lemon cream and covered with meringue. Other new flavors are a blueberry filled one with a white chocolate and forest fruit cover, or chocolate filled with a chocolate and pistachio nut cover; prices for the sufganiyot at English Cake vary from NIS 3.5 for a traditional mini-doughnut to NIS 8 for a regular size special flavor. The Ben-Ami bakeries make excellent sufganiyot in all the regular flavors (jelly, caramel cream, chocolate), and added some new citrus fruit doughnuts this year, filled with red grapefruit, orange and lemon cream. A box of nine mini-size citrus fruit sufganiyot is NIS 39. Karmit has Hanukka gelt in the form of chocolate coins, this year decorated with images of the kids' favorite cartoon star, Spongebob Squarepants; a package is NIS 5. Also available is a candy-filled dreidel, at NIS 10. Galileo makes olive oil especially for hanukkiot; a one-liter bottle is NIS 19.50. In honor of Hanukka, Etz Hazayit has a special edition of canola (rapeseed) oil, packed in a two-liter tin decorated with nostalgic pictures. The tins are available for a limited period and cost NIS 29.95. Osem has some instant soups that are made with natural ingredients only, with no monosodium glutamate, no preservatives and no food coloring. They are recognizable by the green line at the top of the package; prices for instant soups are NIS 6.80 to 10.25. Ma'adanot has frozen family-size pizzas with a thin crust, in regular flavor or with olives; the price is NIS 22 for the cheese pizza and NIS 23 for the cheese and olives. Alei Katif Hasalat markets salads that are worm- and insect-free, thanks to its method of growing lettuce, and that are glatt-kosher as well. New is the "king's salad," a combination of iceberg lettuce and carrot, wrapped with a little bag of soy and sunflower seed, a few small packages of Thousand Island dressing and a plastic fork and knife. The price is NIS 13 to NIS 14. The salads come washed and ready to eat.