an old world hanukkah treat

in certain homes, plates of these always seem to be around throughout the holiday. they are just that good. these deep fried pieces of dough are treats which have ties to the old ashkenazi world of eastern europe — poland, hungary, lithuania and russia, in particular. they are known by several names. i simply call them fried bowties.

the way i make them has changed over the years. with the holidays being very busy, i completely appreciate a modernized way of making these tasty bowties instead of slaving away mixing, rolling and cutting. so, i have taken to a short cut. a chinese one, to be exact.

huh, you say?

using wonton wrappers to make these, in my opinion, is brilliant. they are kosher and they are already rolled and cut. i always keep a package of this frozen for who knows what. i do admit, with the original recipe the dough is a little thicker and not as crisp after frying, which i prefer, and it can be flavoured. while these cannot, they are just as good — especially in a pinch.

the following bowties take no time to make. having a little hanukkah helper does speed things up, as long as s/he knows what the correct procedure is. the forming of the bows is fun for kids but keep them away from the oil, obviously.

so without further ado, here is how you do it.

it's really a no-brainer and besides the wrappers, it requires nothing but a cutter of some sort, the oil, a cookie sheet and the icing sugar & cinnamon, if you use it.

fried hanukkah bowties

ingredients:

1 pkg wonton wrappers
oil for frying
icing sugar
cinnamon and/or ground ginger [optional]

method:

first of all, i use one of these to cut the dough. it makes the job fast and simple. you can also use a knife.

defrost the dough if it is frozen. take out a few sheets and cover the rest. keep the sheets together for faster and more convenient cutting. you may also just cut one sheet at a time. no point to it, really as it takes forever that way.

now, if you didn't listen and are still cutting one by one, make a slit in the upper 1/3 of the dough as you can see in the picture. if you are using the stacked way cut through to the bottom. don't do more than say, a stack of 4 at a time. it becomes difficult to cut through nicely with more than that.

place the stacks near you, and take one by one and and pull the bottom half through the slit.

carefully pull one end through almost all the way. you will end up with a nice bow. place these aside on a cookie sheet. it's okay if they dry. you don't need to cover them. make sure you have a batch before you start frying as you don't want to stop in between to make more. the fry quickly and chances are you will burn them.

after you have done the fun part, now comes the less pleasant part of frying. make sure that the oil is not too hot. you WILL burn them if it is. i fry them at a bit lower temperature than normal. they will take 3 to 4 minutes in total, most likely.

once they are browned on one side, flip them over with chopsticks or a fork. remove them and place them on paper towels and keep frying your brains out. deep fried heaven!

now you will make your decision as to how you want to finish the job. these can be taken as they are right below and stored away until you want to serve them. they can be put in a tin for a week or two without and noticeable difference.

take your icing sugar and either add some cinnamon and/or ginger or just leave it plain and sift it into a bowl. you don't want lumps.

once that is done, take a strainer and sift the icing over your bowties and then turn them and repeat.

an alternative is to put the icing sugar in a ziploc and then add the bowties and shake. they will be covered more heavily.

depending on how much sugar you want on them, choose your method. ice them just before serving.

most of all, enjoy!! happy holidays.

p.s. these sound like the bomb! definitely in the plans for another day.