During Jewish cooks around the world fry foods to commemorate the ancient miracle of how a day's worth of oil burned for eight days in the newly liberated temple of Jerusalem. This year change things with a big plate of freshly fried bimuelos.Bimuelos, dough fritters drizzled with a sweet syrup or dusted with powdered sugar.

Hanukkah may be the Jewish festival of lights, but it is also, in the culinary sense at least, a festival of oil. Jewish cooks around the world fry foods to commemorate the ancient miracle of how a day’s worth of oil burned for eight days in the newly liberated temple of Jerusalem. Hanukkah begins at sundown on Dec. 8 this year; greet it with a big plate of freshly fried bimuelos.

Bimuelos (bim-WAY-los) are dough fritters drizzled with a sweet syrup or dusted with powdered sugar. These Sephardic treats can provide a welcome alternative to latkes, the potato pancakes most identified with Hanukkah in North America, or sufganiyot, the jelly doughnuts so popular in Israel.

"I love latkes, but one day is enough for them. Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday," says chef Laura Frankel, author of "Jewish Cooking for All Seasons." Bimuelos are lighter, she said, and serving them allows celebrants to shift the fried-food element of the meal from main course to dessert.

Originating in Spain, bimuelos became the "pre-eminent Sephardic Hanukkah treat" and were often eaten daily during the holiday, according to Gil Marks’ "Encyclopedia of Jewish Food." Bimuelos spread through the Mediterranean world when the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. It was then, Marks said, that many began to replace the sugar used as a topping in Spain with sweetened syrups common to the Middle East.

"Bimuelo" is the word for fritter in Ladino, a Judeo-Spanish language that could be considered the Sephardic version of Yiddish. The fritters are bunuelo in Spanish, loukoumas in Greek and awamee in Arabic.

Tory Avey, of Los Angeles, a food writer and blogger at The Shiksa in the Kitchen, (theshiksa.com), remembers well her first bite.

"I thought they tasted a lot like beignets," says Avey, referring to the famed fried dough balls of New Orleans. "It was crispy and warm and doughnutlike and drizzled with syrup." The fritters had an "exotic perfume," she recalled, because her mother-in-law used rose or orange water syrup to sweeten them.

While Avey will plate the syrup-coated fritters to serve guests, she admits with a laugh that when it’s just family, everyone gathers around the frying pan. The sizzling fritters can turn into all kinds of shapes in the hot oil, she said, noting that when her husband was little, he would see all sorts of things in the shapes as his mother did the frying.

After frying, bimuelos are drizzled with syrup. Honey is the traditional choice. Choose a honey by the quality, Frankel said, not because of a cute bear-shaped bottle. "Go for a raw honey; it has better flavor," she said.

Avey often follows her mother-in-law’s examples and uses rose or orange water. There are other options. Avey might flavor her sugar syrup with vanilla or coconut flavoring.

"You could serve it with agave," she added, "or even go with a good maple syrup. You can’t mess them up."

FRYING TIPS

"People frying at home always seems scary to me," admits chef Laura Frankel, author of "Jewish Cooking for All Seasons." It can be done, though, safely and relatively easily. Here are some of Frankel’s tips for pain-free bimuelo frying.

1. Choose the right pan. "Go deeper than a saute pan," Frankel said. One of those deep skillets used for fried chicken or a heavy-bottomed saucepan could work.

2. Have your bimuelos ready and fully risen before heating the oil.

3. Choose the right oil. Frankel uses a mild extra-virgin olive oil heated to 350 degrees, no higher because olive oil has a low smoking point. Olive oil has a more authentic flavor, she says, though cold-pressed canola or grapeseed oil may be substituted, Frankel said.

4. Use a candy/deep-fry thermometer to check oil temperature. Remember the oil temperature will drop when the fritters are added.

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FRITTERS WITH SWEET SYRUP

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 4 minutes per batch

Makes: 20 fritters

Note: Tori Avey of The Shiksa in the Kitchen blog said this recipe stems from her Israeli mother-in-law. The original called for yeast and needed time to rise; Avey uses baking powder to speed up the prep. Her mother-in-law also uses a syrup flavored with rose water or orange water for a "wonderful, exotic Middle Eastern twist." Look for them at specialty or ethnic markets.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

Grapeseed or peanut oil for frying

For the syrup

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon rose water or orange blossom water

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl with a fork. Beat the egg in a separate bowl. Whisk the milk into the egg until well combined. Add the egg-and-milk mixture to the flour mixture; stir with a fork until a batter forms.

2. Heat about an inch of oil in a deep skillet or heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until hot enough for frying, about 365 degrees. Working in batches, use a metal soup spoon to scoop up by heaping tablespoonfuls; drop into the hot oil. The oil should sizzle but not splatter; if the oil pops or splatters, let it cool slightly before proceeding. Fry the fritters until golden brown on both sides, turning once during cooking, 2-3 minutes total. Drain fritters on rack set over paper towels.

3. For the syrup, heat the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally; add rose or orange blossom water. Reduce heat; simmer until the liquid thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Serve hot, with warm syrup poured over freshly fried fritters.

Nutrition information:

Per fritter: 119 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 18 g carbohydrates, 2 g protein, 44 mg sodium, 0 g fiber.