North Shore Kosher Bakery

Mindy Segal Dishes on Her Family’s Hanukkah Traditions for a Holiday TV Special | Eater Chicago

"The West Ridge bakery’s Ayellet Benezra uses her dad’s recipe to make sufganiyot, the signature Hanukkah treat: deep-fried yeast dough injected with a variety of sweet fillings and sprinkled with powdered sugar. She uses raspberry, the most traditional filling, along with chocolate, custard, and caramel. The bakery used to make between 30,000 and 40,000 sufganiyot by hand each year but cut back to around 25,000 after it stopped selling them wholesale, noting that "A fried doughnut really doesn’t stay as delicious when it’s sitting on a Jewel shelf versus when you come to the store and it’s super fresh," Benezra says. The bakery starts making sufganiyot weeks before the holiday to cater to eager customers and to ensure product quality: "It’s been a year, so when you’re doing it again you’re working with different temperatures outside and different humidity levels so everything alters," she says. "Maybe the temperature of the oil is slightly off, maybe one of the burners isn’t working properly. The first run you make, you usually have some throw-outs, but then you get into the rhythm of it." Moved by the special’s trailer, Benezra says, "I want to increase knowledge of Hanukkah and the desire to celebrate it with everyone, whether you’re Jewish or not," and adds, "There’s a lot of focus on Christmas this time of year and just the teeniest amount for Hanukkah. It means a lot to be able to showcase the food and the story of Hanukkah and what it means to the survival of the Jewish people." - Sam Nelson