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Donuts meet hamantaschen as Brooklyn’s Sesame bakery reimagines a Purim treat
(New York Jewish Week) – In the search for innovation, Jewish bakers have lately branched out into rectangular latkes, soft mandel bread and black and white cookies that are anything but.
The latest Franken-nosh? Ahead of Purim, Sesame, a popular Brooklyn bakery, sells a frosting-filled donut in the triangular shape of hamantaschen, the signature cookie of the holiday that marks the Jewish victory over the evil Haman. (Purim begins on the evening of March 7.)
The triangular donut is a twist on the uber-popular Hanukkah sufganiyot that Sesame is known for: fluffy yeast donuts chock-full of filling and laden with elaborate toppings. The hamantaschen donuts are available in a range of flavors from strawberry and blueberry jelly to pistachio and lemon custard.
The triangular donuts are available during Purim at Sesame, a popular Brooklyn bakery known for its sufganiyot during Hanukkah. (Julia Gergely)
The donuts taste like, well, donuts, not like their stiffer, crumbly, less sweet cousins hamantaschen, which are made from shortbread dough. Still, they were delicious by any standard. The bite was pillowy and the frosting wasn’t overpowering, letting the ample amount of filling steal the show. If you don’t like frosting, maybe eat around it.
The recipe is the same as the standard donuts that the bakery sells, a worker at the register said.
On a Thursday afternoon, the bakery was bustling, and neither workers nor customers had time to stop and talk. Chaim Zorger opened the Flatbush location in 2016 and a second location in Boro Park in 2019. The Sesame name was “ubiquitous in the fervent discussion around deluxe sufganiyot,” the Jewish Link reported in December 2022, saying the bakery was “known for outstanding, but not outrageous baked goods.”
Trays of donuts and hamenstaschen at Sesame’s Flatbush location, Feb. 23, 2023. (Julia Gergely)
In Hanukkahs past, Sesame has opened two-week pop-ups in the Five Towns in Long Island and Lakewood, New Jersey, suppled by staff who would be baking for 24 hours a day throughout the two weeks.
The triangular Purim donuts are priced between $2.75 and $4.75 depending on the flavor. (Sesame also sells regular hamantaschen.) At Dough, another kosher donut bakery with several locations around New York, a single donut will run you between $5.45 to $5.95.
It cost me $12.80 for the two donuts plus three hamantaschen, which, by the way, was totally an underestimate of how much I thought I would want.
The bakery also sells traditional hamentaschen for Purim, along with other pastries. (Julia Gergely)
Some online traditionalists disapproved. “It would be a sin to call these Hamantaschen,” wrote one user on Twitter. (For what it is worth, the cashier at Sesame just called them donuts.)
Another user, who a few months earlier had tweeted “I have long maintained that we should simply abandon hamantaschen all together and eat sufganiyot by both Chanukah and Purim,” was apparently delighted by the Purim donuts. “Finally, a store that agrees with me!” he wrote.
In the Facebook group “Great Kosher Restaurant Foodies,” one user tried to come up with names for the creation, asking, “Is this a hamanganiyot, or a suftaschen?”
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The post Donuts meet hamantaschen as Brooklyn’s Sesame bakery reimagines a Purim treat appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief”
מזל־טובֿ! דעם 20סטן יאַנואַר 2026 איז געוואָרן 120 יאָר זינט דער גרינדונג פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“ — דער עצות־רובריק פֿונעם פֿאָרווערטס. די רובריק איז פֿאַרלייגט געוואָרן פֿונעם גרינדער און לאַנגיאָריקן שעף־רעדאַקטאָר אַב קאַהאַן אין 1906.
כּדי אָפּצומערקן דעם יום־טובֿ ברענגען מיר אײַך צוויי זאַכן:
• ערשטנס, אַן אַרטיקל וועגן אַ טשיקאַווען בריוו וואָס איז אָנגעקומען אין דער פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקציע אין יאַנואַר 1949, פֿון אַ לייענער וועמעס זון האָט חתונה געהאַט מיט אַ קריסטלעכער פֿרוי
• צווייטנס, אַ פֿאָרווערטס־ווידעאָ אויף ייִדיש וועגן דער געשיכטע פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“, מיטן געוועזענעם פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלער און דער פֿאָרווערטס־אַרכיוויסטקע חנה פּאָלאַק.
The post 120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief” appeared first on The Forward.
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Report: Khamenei Moved to Underground Bunker in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Amid tense expectation of US strike on key assets of the Islamic regime, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved into a special underground bunker in Tehran, the Iran International website reported on Saturday.
The report further added that the supreme leader’s third son Masoud Khamenei has taken over day-to-day management of the leader’s office, functioning as the de facto main channel for coordination vis-à-vis the executive branches of the government and the security forces.
The report describes Khamenei’s hideout as a “fortified site with interconnected tunnels.”
On Thursday US President Donald Trump said that a “massive” naval force was heading toward Iran.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see,” Trump added.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, along with three destroyers, was spotted making its way to the Middle East from Asia, according to ship-tracking data.
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Israel, Syria to Finalize US-Brokered Security Deal ‘Soon,’ as ‘Developments Accelerate Noticeably’
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, March 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
i24 News – Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet soon under US mediation, perhaps in Paris, to finalize a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, a source close to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told i24NEWS on Saturday.
According to the Syrian source, the talks will also focus on various potential joint strategic and economic projects in the buffer zones between the two countries.
“There is very optimistic talk suggesting the possibility of even opening an Israeli embassy in Damascus before the end of this year, given the significant progress in the prospect of Syria joining the Abraham Accords,” the source said.
The original Syrian plan was limited to a security agreement and the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Damascus without diplomatic status, the source tells me. “But developments are accelerating noticeably under pressure from the United States, and specifically by President Trump, and amid growing Syrian openness.”
If Damascus manages to reach an integration agreement with the Druze in southern Syria, similar to its agreement with the Kurds in the northeast, and Israel commits to respecting Syria’s unity and territorial integrity, then al-Sharaa would be open to elevate the status of the agreement with Israel to more than just a security agreement, to also include diplomatic relations and an Israeli embassy in Damascus.
“The al-Sharaa government believes that a viable compromise to advance a peace process with Israel would include a 25-year lease for the Golan Heights, similar to the one Jordan previously signed with Israel over the border enclaves, turning it into a ‘Garden of Peace” of joint economic ventures,” the source said.
The source close to al-Sharaa also tells me that US President Trump is seeking to bring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Al-Sharaa together for a peace agreement signing ceremony.
It should be noted that Israel has repeatedly rejected returning any part of the Golan Heights, let alone the entire territory.
On another front, the source stated that Damascus intends to adopt a new local administration system based on expanded administrative decentralization to enhance participation in local communities across all Syrian governorates.
According to the source, this solution would resolve persisting disputes with the Druze, Kurds, Alawites, and other minorities. A new Syrian government is expected to be formed within the next three months, the source added.