A Glazed & Amused thread

Sufganiyot

Eight nights, one jelly doughnut.

On Hanukkah, you eat fried food. The oil recalls the holiday's miracle: one night's oil burning for eight.

A sufganiyah is a jelly doughnut. The name comes from Talmudic words for spongy dough. An early German cookbook describes jam fried between two rounds of bread, and the idea spread: krapfen in Austria, Berliner in Germany, ponchik among Polish Jews, who fried them in oil or schmaltz to keep them kosher.

Israel made them the Hanukkah food. Starting in the 1920s, the Histadrut labor federation promoted doughnuts over latkes. Anyone could make latkes at home. Doughnuts needed a paid baker. Today Israelis eat around 18 million over the holiday, and Israeli immigrants had brought them to American bakeries by the 1970s.

Anyone could make latkes at home. Doughnuts needed a paid baker.

When to go

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown Friday, December 4, and ends at nightfall Saturday, December 12. Most of these bakeries make sufganiyot only around the holiday, and demand runs high. Go early in the week.

Where they are

Rolling out the map…

Positions are approximate.

The bakeries

Bread Furst
4434 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC
Mark Furstenberg opened it in 2010 because, he said, Washington had no neighborhood bakery. He won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker in 2017.
During Hanukkah the bakery makes raspberry sufganiyot fresh every morning, alongside latkes, babka and challah.
Known for: Raspberry sufganiyot, Hanukkah only
See the listing →
Breads Bakery
Union Square and other Manhattan locations, New York, NY
Uri Scheft, who founded Lehamim in Tel Aviv, opened Breads near Union Square in 2013 with Gadi Peleg. It's the most direct line from Israel's bakeries to New York's.
Sufganiyot run for less than two weeks around the holiday. Last year's flavors were mango, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and pistachio. "We can never meet the demand," Peleg told NY1.
Known for: Israeli-style sufganiyot
Written about, not listed. A general bakery, so it lives on this trail rather than in the listings.
Fan-Fan Doughnuts
448 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Mexican-Jewish chef Fany Gerson opened Fan-Fan in Bed-Stuy in 2020. It makes doughnuts and nothing else, and it was a 2025 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery.
Her sufganiyot don't stop at jelly. Last year: strawberry-sumac, chocolate halva, and Persian carrot jam with rose.
Known for: Sufganiyot with a Mexican-Jewish accent
See the listing →
Union Square Donuts
20 Bow St, Somerville, MA (and other Massachusetts shops)
A Massachusetts doughnut shop that treats sufganiyot as a yearly tradition, with fillings like Nutella cream and halva pastry cream.
It sells them by the dozen for Hanukkah parties, and keeps a standing Hanukkah catering page.
Known for: Halva and Nutella sufganiyot
Mensch Bakery
7122 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA (Fairfax)
About 20,000 sufganiyot go out the door during Hanukkah week. "When I was a kid, there were only jelly donuts," owner Yoav Rogel told Los Angeles magazine.
Now there's strawberry cheesecake and lemon meringue, with generous fillings.
Known for: Sufganiyot at scale
Written about, not listed. A general bakery, so it lives on this trail rather than in the listings.
Fred's Bakery & Deli
2831 S Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA · since 1949
The oldest stop here, founded in 1949. Nearly 2,000 doughnuts a day during Hanukkah.
Raspberry jelly, custard, Bavarian, chocolate fudge. "The simplest way is the best way," says owner Avi Kadmon.
Known for: Classic raspberry jelly
Written about, not listed. A general bakery, so it lives on this trail rather than in the listings.
Zak the Baker
295 NW 26th St, Miami, FL (Wynwood)
Zak Stern started baking in a South Miami garage in 2012 and moved to Wynwood in 2016. The bakery is certified kosher.
Strawberry jelly sufganiyot during Hanukkah, next to the challah.
Known for: Strawberry jelly sufganiyot
Written about, not listed. A general bakery, so it lives on this trail rather than in the listings.

Most of the year, a jelly doughnut is just a jelly doughnut. For eight nights in December it's a tradition. Find a shop near you and start one.

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Where they are

The bakeries

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