31 Hanukkah Desserts To Make All 8 Nights Extra Sweet

You can use your favorite homemade sugar cookie dough or follow our lead and use a couple store-bought logs. These will turn out so cute, no one mind either way! These work with any small candy, from the mini M&M's we used here to Nerds or Skittles, so have fun with it.

Get the Sugar Cookie Dreidels recipe.

For such a simple game, spinning the dreidel easily inspires some fierce competition over who will end up with the largest pile of gelt. The thing is, those coins are usually made up of, to put it kindly, not-so-great chocolate. What then to do with your sweet spoils? Make these chocolate-orange thumbprint cookies! With fewer than 10 ingredients, you can turn your winnings into a cute Hanukkah dessert that's perfect for sharing. Make enough, and you could even use them instead of gelt during a rousing after-dinner dreidel game.

Get the Gelt Thumbprints recipe.

Although baked instead of fried, this pull-apart ring is reminiscent of sufganiyot, made easier for those of us who don't have a good fryer set up at home. Try it with whatever kind of jam you like!

Get the Pull-Apart Jelly Donut recipe.

Keeping kosher and craving dessert? This vegan chocolate cake is for you and yours. Thanks to a couple of smart swaps and a secret ingredient or two, we bet you might not even be able to guess it’s completely egg- and dairy-free.

Get the Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe.

♫ "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel..." ♫ If you truly want to take your game over the top, play for homemade gelt! They're super-easy to make at home (we used a mini muffin tin), and you can decorate them however you like.

Get the Hanukkah Gelt recipe.

This lightly fried, gorgeously dusted, low-key sugary jelly donut serves as a reminder that life can be sweet sometimes—which is exactly why we make it exclusively for the most festive of Jewish holidays. You can really fill the donuts with whatever filling makes you happy... as long as it's sweet.

Get the Sufganiyot recipe.

No Hanukkah celebration is complete without a big plate of crispy, craggly latkes. If you're more of a sweets fan but want to keep with tradition, we've got just the cookie for you. Our favorite part? A homemade apple caramel as a nod to the applesauce often enjoyed with potato pancakes.

Get the Latke Cookies recipe.

Rugelach is a pillowy soft and flaky filled pastry-turned-cookie filled with jam or a sweet walnut and brown sugar mixture. The cream cheese dough is surprisingly easy to make and to roll, any imperfections are part of the charm. We can't get enough!

Get the Rugelach recipe.

Kugel is basically the Yiddish/Jewish word for casserole. While there are many savory versions (such as this giant-latke-esque potato kugel), we have a soft spot in our hearts for this eggy, cinnamon-y sweet version too.

Get the Sweet Noodle Kugel recipe.

This dough is made with flour, sugar, yeast, and lemon zest. The loukoumades are then drizzled with melted chocolate, covered in cinnamon and honey, and sprinkled with pistachios. Yum!

Get the Loukoumades recipe.

Black & whites are a NYC Jewish deli classic, and we can't get enough of them, any time of year. Light and moist, these vanilla-, almond-, and lemon-flavored cookies are the closest you might get to biting into a cloud.

Get the Black & White Cookies recipe.

This super-sized version of an apple cider donut comes together in no time, and there's no actual deep frying involved. That's a Hanukkah miracle in our book!

Get the Apple Cider Donut Cake recipe.

Poaching slightly under-ripe pears makes them tender and sweetens them, while allowing them to maintain their structure. Once poached, they can be served warm or cold, garnished with a caramel reduction of the cooking liquid, and accompanied with everything from dairy-free ice cream to whipped cream to yogurt.

Get the Poached Pears recipe.

Zeppole are the perfect snack for serving with coffee for a midmorning pastry break, or serve with chocolate sauce for a more decadent dessert. In Italy, larger zeppole are often filled with pastry cream. For a take on that version, use a paring knife to poke a small hole in the side of the donut, then fill with pastry cream using a piping bag.

Get the Zeppole recipe.

A Jewish sweet braided bread loved by all, babka is stuffed, rolled, then baked with a variety of fillings. Chocolate babka tends to dominate the flavor popularity contest, but there's a certain appeal to a cinnamon babka that just can't be denied—which is why this recipe sneaks both into the mix.

Get the Chocolate Babka recipe.

Liberally dusted in confectioners’ sugar, these pillowy deep-fried doughnuts will make you feel like you're at the famous Cafe du Monde in just one bite.

Get the New Orleans-Style Beignets recipe.

This coconut ice cream is no joke. Not only is it dairy-free, but it's completely vegan too. It's ultra-creamy with a sweet coconut milk flavor that only gets better topped with toasted coconut (or whatever you like!).

Get the Coconut Ice Cream recipe.

Pistachios add a slightly sweet, nutty flavor that will make these cookies feel a little bit elevated, but still just as classic and comforting. Bonus: These are kosher because they're made with olive oil instead of butter!

Get the Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.

This particular challah dough is a bit on the sweeter side, and it lends beautifully to a variety of applications, from being a dinner side to an after dinner treat. Hot tip: These rolls taste phenomenal when toasted!

Get the Challah Rolls recipe.

Frying things in oil is a big tradition on Hanukkah, but we'd get it if you were intimidated by a big vat of hot oil. Instead, make this citrusy, tender cake instead! Lemon and orange zest play super well with the grassy, bright flavors of olive oil.

Get the Citrus Olive Oil Cake recipe.