We kicked Chanukah off last night in the Fresser household with a new recipe. And a lesson the meaning of Chanukah.

I'll confess to having been on a mission to lose a few pounds ahead of the festive season. I wanted to lose the lockdown love handles during the second lockdown, not add to them. Not keen to pile them back on, I dug out some low-oil recipes for our celebrations. 

Armed with my air fryer, I attempted to produce my doughnuts and latkes with minimal oil. I'd picked a recipe for air fryer sufganyot from Jamie Geller's website. My ancient air fryer - a Tefal 2 in 1 - did not look like the one Geller uses (which looks like a mini oven) but I figured it should do the job. 

The dough felt a bit dry and dense, so I had my doubts as to how it would turn out. As it was cold in my kitchen I hurried the process along a little with this hack: put a shot glas or small bowl of water in your microwave and heat for a couple of minutes on high — it will fill with steam and warm the microwave interior, for perfect dough rising conditions. I then put the bowl of rising dough inside and left it to do its stuff — with the glass still inside.

Once risen, the dough had to be rolled flat, and cut into 5cm circles. These dough patties sat on the greased air fryer tray, were brushed with more oil — still less than they'd suck up in a deep fat bath — and proved for 30 minutes. They then went into the air fryer to bake for about five minutes before being dusted in cinnamon-laced icing sugar.

Also in the interests of fat reduction, I cooked my latkes (using the normal potato/onion mixture) in the air fryer. I did mist them with oil as they were looking dry and dusty. I cooked a second tray in the oven, also misted with frying oil. 

The verdict? Disappointing.

My daughter actually preferred her less greasy latkes, but for me, both doughnuts and latkes were meh. I ended up throwing the last of the latkes in the bin, as I didn't think they were worth even the reduced calorie count. 

Chanukah is about oil! I'd rather eat just one gorgeous, greasy, golden latke and a sweet, sugar-coated doughnut oozing with custard. So no more Chanukah grinch — I'm indulging in the real deal and enjoying it with gelt and not guilt. And then it's back to winter salads — drizzled with a gorgeous, shiny extra virgin olive oil.