Flora Atkins Dutch Kichelkies Little Kichel Recipes

In nineteenth-century America, _kichlers_ or Haman's Ears for Purim Night were small cookies (_kichel_ is cookie in Yiddish), sometimes made from a pound-cake batter, deep-fried in butter, and bathed in sugar syrup flavored with cinnamon and rose water. Notice that butter was used in this age before vegetable shortening. Haman's Ears is also the American name for a _kichel, kichelkies,_ or _hazenblosen_ (blown-up little pants), thin strips of fried dough sprinkled with confectioners' sugar, similar to the Italian bugie served at Carnivale in February. "When I would ask my grandmother how much red wine to use in her _kichelkies,_ she would reply, 'Half and egg shell,'" said Flora Atkin, who enjoys making traditional family recipes for holidays. "She used to say, 'I know my recipe won't die because my granddaughter will carry on the tradition.'" She was right. Before Rosh Hashanah, each year, Mrs. Atkin makes _kichelkies_ on an assembly line with three frying pans going at once.

Provided by Joan Nathan

Yield Yield: about 20 (P)

Number Of Ingredients 6

• Ingredients