DISH OF THE WEEK: Thanksgivukkah Doughnuts at ZUCKER BAKERY

Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City

SADLY, ZUCKER BAKERY IS NOW CLOSED.

I don’t normally post an entry on a major holiday like Thanksgiving – especially the one year it happens to fall on the exact same day as the first day of another major holiday (Hanukkah) resulting in a once-in-a-lifetime mega holiday. Of course, everybody has heard about Thanksgivukkah by now. Heck, I even made a video about it.

And while I’m slaving away over a hot stove trying my hand at wacky hybrid combinations like pecan pie rugelach and brussels sprout latkes, Zucker Bakery in the East Village has already made the most perfect Thanksgivukkah dish.

Word hit the street a few weeks ago that this quaint little Israeli-owned bakery would be baking  unconventional versions of sufganiyot, the Jewish doughnuts usually stuffed with jelly. Here they would use a pumpkin or sweet potato dough and stuff them with turkey, gravy, cranberry, marshmallows, or some combination thereof.

I stopped by twice. The first time I was overeager and visited before they officially starting frying. They did have preview samples for me and the mini-turkey stuffed fritter with cranberry sauce was very interesting, but I needed a full taste.

On my second visit, the doughnuts had become so popular that I had a limited selection to choose from. But I was able to secure two  sweet potato doughnuts with a browned marshmallow top and a marshmallow filling. They were pretty spectacular. Firstly, the presentation was just beautiful – the charred snowcap of marshmallow was dramatic atop the fried orange dough.

Inside, I discovered even more marshmallow. With all that creamy white stuff, I was surprised that it wasn’t gooey and overly sweet. The sweetness was much more muted and this experience was about warm and savory flavors with lots of crispy and creamy textures.

These were unlike anything I had tasted before and sadly, since Thanksgivukkah won’t occur again for another 80,000 years, something I will probably never taste again (unless I hit the bakery before December 1).