A Lil' Jewish Tradition//Latkes

     Over this past week, I've debated whether to stick with my original plan of making cinnamon sugar biscotti as my annual Christmas presents for the awesome people at church or whether I should try making something else. I kind of set my standards a bit too high last year when I made so many different flavours of macarons. I personally enjoyed the strawberry and lemon curd ones the best, and not the orange cocoa and mint chocolate. (Sadly my perfected recipe which was altered to specifically work hand in hand with my silly oven is gone.) The years before that I've made cookies.. sugar, chocolate chip, and everything else that was simple----> typical.

Christmas 2010

My best batch of macarons ever. Baked nicely inside with no crazy air pockets. Lemon curd mascarpone.

 Anyways I became inspired by the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah/Chanukah when the the grade two's were learning about it in their class. The Jewish tradition was to eat fried foods such as latkes and sufganiyot (potato pancakes and jelly filled doughnuts) during this holiday. Unfortunately it would be hard passing out freshly made and packaged latkes and sufganiyots, if I were able to I would have to superhero with outrageous powers of speed and multitasking. I managed to decide what to make which would still be related to Jewish foods, but I won't spoil the surprise for some of the readers by blurting it out right now.

I made latkes today, they were just so fab tasting I don't think I would go buy those hash brown patties anymore... not that I did before but you know those cravings for deep fried potato patties? Oh boy. Like always when I'm absentminded I forgot to add baking powder into the batter. It turned out alright though. I might of added more pepper into the mix, but my family prefers it that way. ^^ Here's what I used.

Latkes

3 medium potatoes
1/2 medium sweet potato
1/2 large white onion
1 large egg
1 tbsp flour
1/2+ tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 panko bread crumbs (just because I wanted it more crunchy)
Oil to fry

Peel and shred the potatoes and sweet potato. Let it sit and squeeze out the moisture from them. Repeat with the onion. Mix the egg and all the dry ingredients together with the shredded mix. Form balls with the batter and then flatten them into disks. Fry in a skillet of hot oil, until cooked through (golden brown on both sides if the disk is pretty thin). Serve the latkes with sour cream or applesauce! They are so good since they were crispy on the outside and tender in the middle. Remember to pat the oil off them with paper towels, so then you won't feel so guilty for reaching out for another helping. =P

Enjoy!