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Later, latke: These NYC establishments are serving unique Hanukkah treats
(New York Jewish Week) — Hanukkah begins Sunday, Dec. 18, at sundown, and, for most American Jews, that means it’s time for latkes, that delicious, crispy fried potato pancake.
Of course, when it comes to Hanukkah treats, there are other options, too, especially sufganiyot (singular: sufganiyah), the deep-fried doughnuts inspired by the Hanukah miracle of the oil lamp. These fried goodies are most typically filled with strawberry jam, and they’re readily available at many bakeries and kosher food stores across the city.
However, in this great city of ours, there’s no need to stop with the classic! In recent years, New York pastry chefs have upped their Hanukkah game and are getting uber creative with the flavors and fillings of their Hanukkah jelly doughnuts and fresh approaches to other Hanukkah treats.
Perhaps they are looking over their shoulders at the frenzy of creativity that overtakes Israeli bakeries in the weeks leading up to Hanukkah. Bakeries there sell a staggering 20 million or so sufganiyot each year during the Festival of Lights. Some of these are simple jelly doughnuts, while others are veritable works of art, filled with creative concoctions ranging from passion fruit cream to wild berry mascarpone and topped with flavored whipped creams, crispy cherries, pistachio glaze and more.
When it comes to sufganiyot, New York may not have reached Israeli-style innovation — yet. But if you want to venture beyond fried potato pancakes this year, you’re in luck: From unique collaborations between chefs and bakers (latke-inspired doughnuts, anyone?) to tropical flavors, the following eight bakeries and restaurants are churning out extra-special Hanukkah treats this year.
Balaboosta
611 Hudson Street, West Village
If you like to go out for your holiday celebration, Israeli-born Chef Einat Admony is preparing a special Hanukkah dessert at her flagship restaurant Balaboosta: the Moroccan doughnut, sfenj, will be on the menu all eight days of the holiday. Her take on the fried pastry is flavored with the anise-flavored spirit Arak, grapefruit zest and juice. You get four to five sfenj with your order. $15 per serving.
Breads Bakery
Locations in Union Square, Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center, Upper East Side and Bryant Park Kiosk
From Dec. 15 through Dec. 27, Breads will be serving the classic strawberry jam-filled sufganiyah. But you can also choose passion fruit jam, vanilla cream and chocolate cream fillings ($3.65 each; $37 for a dozen). Yes, fresh latkes ($2.95) are also on offer, but if you’d really like to try something different, for the month of December Breads is featuring a bialy babka ($16.95), a savory combination of babka dough with bialy-inspired fried onions and poppyseeds.
By The Way Bakery
Locations in Brooklyn, Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Westchester
No gluten, no oil, no problem! At this kosher bakery, you can get a dairy- and gluten-free doughnut to mark the holiday — what’s more, it’s baked, not fried. The baking, according to By the Way’s Nazli Sarpkaya, “gives the doughnuts a lighter and more tender texture.” The doughnuts ($3.50 each, $30 for nine) are filled with raspberry jam. Retail locations are supervised by Rabbi Aaron Mehlman of National Kosher Supervision.
Edith’s
Two locations in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: 312 Leonard St. and 495 Lorimer St.
For Hanukkah, Edith’s, a new kid on the Brooklyn food block, is spotlighting a special “collabonut,” as owner Elyssa Heller calls them: sanded sugar doughnuts from Greenpoint institution Peter Pan Donut & Pastry filled with Edith’s grape jelly, homemade from juicy Concord grapes and thick, rich Manischewitz wine. Heller told the New York Jewish Week she landed on Concord grape as this year’s flavor because it was the taste of her childhood, and because grape juice and wine play an important role in Jewish rituals. Six doughnuts for $28.75; preorder is available for nights 1 and 2 only, Dec. 18 and 19. Single doughnuts available in-store all eight days for $4.75 each. Be sure to check out Edith’s unique rectangular latke while you’re there!
Fan Fan Doughnuts
448 Lafayette Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Creativity knows no bounds at Fany Gerson’s doughnut hub. This year, Gerson and team are collaborating with 13(!) of Fan Fan’s favorite bakers and pastry chefs to come up with a Baker’s Dozen Holiday Box ($75) filled with innovative sufganiyot. Among the bakers: Caroline Schiff, the executive pastry chef at historic steakhouse Gage & Tollner, who created a latke doughnut (filled with apple butter, topped with a sour cream glaze and homemade cinnamon-dusted potato chips) and Umber Ahmad of Mah-Ze-Dahr, who contributed a vanilla bean, cardamom and rose doughnut to the lineup. Preorders available.
Michaeli Bakery
Two locations: 115A Division St. on the Lower East Side and 401 East 90th St. on the Upper East Side
Israeli Adir Michaeli, former head baker at Breads and the founder and owner of Michaeli Bakery, opened a second location this year — this one on the Upper East Side. Michaeli is having fun with his fillings, which range from the classic strawberry jam to cream fillings in flavors like hazelnut, pistachio, banana-pecan, dulce de leche and vanilla-chocolate. He is also preparing sfenj, a vegan Moroccan fried doughnut, coated in sugar. Prices range between $4 to $5 each; available from Dec. 18 to 26. International Kosher Council certification.
My Most Favorite Food
7-22 13th St., Long Island City, Queens
This kosher bakery and eatery no longer has a storefront, but they do have an extensive menu of Hanukkah foods that can be picked up at their commissary in Long Island City or delivered to your door. They have raspberry or apricot sufganiyot — available in regular size or mini — but for something a little different you can also try Hanukkah-themed cupcakes, sugar cookies (in the shape of a dreidel or a Hanukkah menorah) and cakes. Pick up and delivery of these holiday-themed foods begins on Sunday, Dec. 18, the first night of the holiday, and runs through Dec. 26. Prices start at $18 for four regular-sized doughnuts; delivery charges vary by location. Kosher certification from OK Kosher.
Russ & Daughters
Three locations: One in Brooklyn and two on the Lower East Side
The creative minds at Fan Fan are also collaborating with iconic appetizing store Russ & Daughters for a good cause: a portion of sales of their three-sufganiyot Hanukkah Box ($14) will go to the Anti-Defamation League, the non-profit that fights antisemitism. The box consists of a traditional(ish) sufganiyah rolled in vanilla sugar and filled with homemade roasted strawberry jam; a rugelach doughnut filled with raspberry jam and rolled in cinnamon sugar; and a black and white doughnut filled with chocolate and vanilla cream and iced in vanilla and chocolate. These treats — also available for $4.50 each — are available at Fan Fan and all Russ & Daughters locations from Dec. 15 through 25.
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Dutch Arrest 15 Suspected of Spreading Islamic State Propaganda on TikTok
Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
Fifteen people were arrested in the Netherlands on Tuesday on suspicion of spreading propaganda for Islamic State on TikTok and trying to persuade people to commit terrorist attacks, Dutch prosecutors said.
The arrests were triggered by a TikTok account that spread large amounts of IS propaganda with Dutch subtitles, the prosecutors said.
The TikTok posts, some with more than 100,000 views, encouraged people to join Islamic State and glorified becoming a martyr for the violent Islamist group, they said.
Thirteen of the suspects are Syrian, and four have Dutch nationality, prosecutors said, implying that some were dual nationals. Four are minors.
The suspects, aged 16 to 53, were detained in raids across the Netherlands, following the arrest last month of a person who the prosecutors said was the main suspect.
TikTok is owned by China’s Bytedance.
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US Used Mobile Launchers for Missiles at Qatar Base as Iran Tensions Rose, Satellite Pictures Show
Satellite image shows F-15E, A-10 Thunderbolt, and C-130 Hercules at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, in Al Azraq, Jordan, Feb. 2, 2026. Photo: 2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via REUTERS
US forces in Qatar‘s al-Udeid, the biggest US base in the Middle East, put missiles into truck launchers as tensions with Iran ratcheted up since January, analysis of satellite images showed, meaning they could be moved more quickly.
The decision to keep the Patriot missiles in mobile trucks rather than semi-static launcher stations — meaning they could rapidly deploy to strike or be moved defensively in case of an Iranian attack — shows how risks heightened as frictions grew.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, its backing for allied terrorist groups in the Middle East, and crushing of internal dissent, though talks to avert a war continue.
There are also US bases in Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey, and on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Iran‘s Revolutionary Guards have warned that in case of strikes on Iranian territory, they could retaliate against any US base.
A comparison of satellite photographs in early February with those taken in January shows a recent build-up of aircraft and other military equipment across the region, said William Goodhind, a forensic imagery analyst with Contested Ground.
At al-Udeid, the Patriot missiles were visible parked mounted into M983 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) at the start of February, Goodhind said.
“The decision to do so gives the Patriots much greater mobility, meaning they can be moved to an alternative site or repositioned with greater speed,” he said.
It was not clear on Tuesday whether the missiles were still in the HEMTTs.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon was not immediately available for comment.
Iran says it has replenished its missile stocks after two weeks of conflict last summer when Israel bombed its nuclear facilities and some other military targets, a campaign that the United States joined late on.
Iran has underground missile complexes near Tehran, as well as at Kermanshah, Semnan and near the Gulf coast.
The Iranian naval drone carrier IRIS Shahid Bagheri was visible in satellite photographs on Jan. 27 at sea some 5 km from Bandar Abbas. It was also visible near Bandar Abbas on February 10.
Here are changes at US Middle East bases observed in satellite pictures:
AL-UDEID, QATAR:
Images from February 1 showed an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, three C-130 Hercules aircraft, 18 KC 135 Stratotankers, and seven C-17s. On Jan. 17 there had been 14 Stratotankers and two C-17s.
Up to 10 MIM-104 Patriot air defense systems were parked in HEMTTs.
MUWAFFAQ, JORDAN:
Images from Feb. 2 of one location in Muwaffaq showed 17 F15-E strike aircraft, 8 A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft, four C-130s, and four unidentified helicopters. Images from Jan. 16 were low resolution and it was not possible to identify all aircraft there.
Feb. 2 images of a second location in Muwaffaq showed a C-17 and a C-130, as well as four EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft. Pictures of that location on Jan. 25 had not shown any aircraft.
OTHER BASES:
At Prince Sultan base in Saudi Arabia, images on Feb. 2 showed a C-5 Galaxy and a C-17 aircraft. Images on Dec. 6 showed five aircraft that appeared to be C-130s.
Satellite images from Feb. 6 showed seven more aircraft than had been observed on Jan. 31 at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Images taken on Jan. 25 and Feb. 10 showed an increase in aircraft at Dukhan base in Oman.
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US Vice President Vance’s Office Backtracks After Statement on ‘Armenian Genocide’
US Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media before boarding Air Force Two upon departure for Azerbaijan, at Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan, Armenia, Feb. 10, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Pool
The White House on Tuesday deleted a post from Vice President JD Vance’s account that commemorated massacres of Armenians as a “genocide,” saying the message that was likely to irk US-allied Turkey was posted in error.
Vance, who was on a two-day trip to Armenia, visited the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan during the first-ever visit by a US vice president to the South Caucasus republic.
There, he and wife Usha Vance participated in a ceremonial laying of a wreath of carnations, chrysanthemums, and roses at the site, which honors the 1.5 million Armenians who lost their lives in the final years of the Turkish-led Ottoman Empire.
Vance’s official account on X later described the visit as designed “to honor the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.”
After that post was deleted, a Vance aide who declined to be named said the message was posted in error by staff who were not part of the traveling delegation.
“This is an account managed by staff that primarily exists to share photos and videos of the Vice President’s activities,” said a spokesperson for Vance, referring to his own comments, which did not include the phrase “genocide.”
TRUMP’S TIES TO TURKEY
Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States and President Tayyip Erdogan has maintained close ties with President Donald Trump, including supporting the US diplomatic initiative on Gaza.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I, but contests the figures and denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.
Although the US Congress and Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, have both recognized the 1915 massacres as a genocide, Trump avoided that language in his own statement on the killings last year.
The social media deletion came four days after the White House defended, and then deleted, a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as apes posted to Trump’s Truth Social account.
Trump later told reporters that he had not watched the entire video before a White House aide posted it to his account.
Asked by a reporter whether his visit to the memorial was intended to recognize a genocide, Vance said, “Obviously, it’s a very terrible thing that happened little over 100 years ago, and something that was just very, very important to them culturally.”
“So, I thought out of a sign of respect, both for the victims, but also for the Armenian government that’s been a very important partner for us in the region, to Prime Minister Pashinyan, I wanted to go and pay a visit and pay my respects.”
Vance’s visit was aimed at promoting agreements the Trump administration struck with Armenia and Azerbaijan to build toward peace after nearly 40 years of war between the Caucasus rivals. Trump has presented those diplomatic efforts as among the chief accomplishments of his time in office.
In Armenia, Vance signed a deal with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that could pave the way for the US to build a nuclear power plant there.
On Tuesday, he traveled to Azerbaijan and signed a strategic partnership deal encompassing economic and security cooperation, as Washington seeks to expand its influence in a region where Russia was once the main power broker.