Doughnut

It's customary to serve jelly doughnuts at Hanukkah, since they are are fried in oil to symbolize the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days instead of one.

(Klejner) Every year research editor Karen Hallal serves these spiced diamond-shaped cookies for dessert on Christmas Eve. They are fried like doughnuts and coated with powdered sugar. The recipe for klejner, popular all over Scandinavia, was given to Karen by her Danish mother.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 40 min

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 45 min

These are great after dinner with coffee or as an afternoon pick-me-up with tea. They are best served freshly made, but they can also be prepared one day ahead and stored at room temperature in plastic wrap.

Israelis celebrate Hanukkah not with latkes, but with doughnuts called sufganiyot. Here's an easy version, similar to doughnut holes.

Zeppole di San Guiseppe The bignè form of these donuts or crullers was invented for the St. Joseph’s Day (March 19), 1840, by Don Pasquale Pintauro, who was given a noble title by King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies for his creation. The Pintauro pasticceria still stands at Via Roma, 275, and it is still among the most highly regarded in the city, although some Neapolitans are fond of saying, "It isn't what it used to be." Until Pintauro adopted the French cream puff pastry — pâte à choux, in French—for his bakery's zeppole, only the much cruder kind of zeppole di Natale, or, in dialect, scauratielli. They are made from a dough of only flour and water or flour and milk, with no leavening, not even an egg. After the Christmas zeppole are formed into rings, actually more the shape of an AIDS ribbon, and fried, they are dipped in hot honey. As you might imagine, they are considerably heavier than the bignè form of zeppole, an because they become even weightier and rather indigestible as they stand, they have to be eaten almost as soon as they emerge from their honey bath. These light, eggy bignè, on the other hand, although they are best when just cooled, can be made hours ahead and re-crisped in a 350-degree oven for a few minutes. The dough can be made a day ahead and kept refrigerated.

Inspired by coconut-based mithai, these irresistible baked cake doughnuts have a plush, lightly spiced crumb and a sweet glaze, all thanks to coconut milk.

These adorable East African doughnuts are fluffy, chewy, and doused in cardamom syrup. No kneading or shaping required.

Try eating just one of these picarones, doughnut-like Peruvian confections that are drenched in a fig-flavored syrup.

Your two favorite breakfasts (syrupy pancakes and doughnuts) now coexist in the form of a pillowy, maple-glazed doughnut. 

These doughnuts are oh so pillowy and light—they're the perfect home for this luscious cardamom cream. 

This East African snack is fluffy, crispy, and mildly sweet—like the best parts of French beignets and American old-fashioned doughnuts combined into one bite.

Apple and cheddar met on a cheese board, realized they both dreamed of someday turning into a deep-fried doughnut, and ran off to do just that.

These sugared doughnuts are craggy and crunchy on the outside, tender and moist on the inside. Apple butter (not sauce!) is key to their texture and flavor; look for it alongside jams and jellies in the supermarket, or at farmers’ markets, or make your own.

The best beignets come from New Orleans, but the high protein content in bread flour gives this classic-style beignets recipe an authentic texture.