8 Days Of Hanukkah (Cocktails)
Everyone knows that Hanukkah is a celebration of light — but it's also a celebration of amazing food and drink. Now, you can add some festive cocktails to your latkes and kosher wines this holiday season.
Faith Kramer at J Weekly has hit the ground running with four Hanukkah-inspired cocktails, and one Hanukkah "mocktail" for those not looking to hit the spirits. (Yes, we're aware that four plus one does not equal eight — but we figure you can have one or two cocktails on repeat to total eight Hanukkah nights.) Kramer, the blogger behind Blog Appetit, says she was inspired to create cocktails from her own experiences: a New Yorker-turned San Francisco resident who never lost the taste for a chocolate egg cream, and an expert on the Sufganiyot treat. (Kramer says that Sufganiyot jelly doughnuts are traditional Hanukkah fare because they are fried in oil.) "I thought the combination of tastes — vanilla, citrus and berry —would make a good drink," Kramer said in an email. "It took some tinkering to get that berry component down and I was tickled when the 'secret ingredient' ended up being such a mainstay of my New York Jewish youth — Manischewitz sweetened blackberry wine."
Look through Kramer's Hanukkah cocktail menu and get inspired: it even includes a holiday favorite, chocolate gelt.
For your favorite Hanukkah treat, the Chocolate Gelt cocktail is made with — what else — chocolate vodka and Goldschläger.
The Sufganiyot (Jelly Donut) Cocktail
Manischewitz in a cocktail? Better believe it: the sweetened blackberry wine plays off the citrus and vanilla flavors of the cocktail.
The Hanukkah Sufganiyot Mocktail
A non-alcoholic take on the Sufganiyot cocktail.
For the New Yorkers in the bunch, the Chocolate Egg Cream Shot uses real cream and chocolate liqueur. (Keep this one away from the kiddos.)
Californian mixologist Sally Berk devised this cocktail, using the Israeli chocolate and orange liqueur, Sabra.