ArcaMax

Often, holiday food celebrations revolve around observing old traditions. It can be just as much fun or more, however, to create new traditions during the festive season -- especially when they make perfect sense and fit in nicely with time-honored observances.

With that idea in mind, please let me to suggest a new tradition for Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, which begins at sundown on December 4 this year and lasts for eight nights of gift-giving and delicious eating.

Hanukkah traditions, as I well know from celebrating them with my two oldest sons, center on foods fried in oil, such as latkes, the potato pancakes so popular in European and American Jewish communities; and sufganiyot, the donuts that Israelis share. Oil figures prominently in the Hanukkah story, in which a single day's worth of oil miraculously kept the light burning for eight nights during the rededication of the main Temple of Jerusalem after Jewish warriors recaptured it in 165 BC.

Yet another tradition commemorates the cunning of Judith, who during the same period helped defeat an enemy general by feeding him salty cheese and then getting him intoxicated on wine. For this reason, dairy foods (but not necessarily wine) star on some Hanukkah tables.

My own small contribution to the Hanukkah party combines elements of both those traditions in the form of dessert pancakes. Since they are cooked on a griddle or frying pan, they count as fried foods, even though I suggest you use nonstick cookware to make cooking and cleanup easier. And since the pancakes include tangy buttermilk and some butter, they certainly count as a dairy food.

Not only that, but pancakes are a wonderful treat at any time during the holiday season, whether for dessert, breakfast or brunch. During the cold months, they're so comforting while being incredibly easy to make. I like to think of them as tender little cakes you don't have to bake.

To give them a dessert-style twist, I serve them with a special fruit topping. I've included with the pancake recipe another simple recipe for a raspberry sauce that you can easily make with frozen raspberries, or you could use the Brandied Dried Apricot Jam I shared with you in my column on French toast recently, or spoon up your favorite store-bought jam. As a finishing touch, I like to top each pancake with a dollop of crème fraîche, the slightly fluid French-style soured cream cheese, but you could substitute lightly whipped heavy cream, if you prefer.

Serve the pancakes any night during your Hanukkah celebrations, or any other evening or morning during the coming month and this new holiday treat will become a favorite old tradition.

DESSERT PANCAKES WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE AND CRÈME FRAÎCHE

Makes about 2 dozen

Raspberry Sauce (recipe follows)

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, preferably organic

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups buttermilk, or 1 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Nonstick cooking spray or flavorless vegetable oil

1/2 cup crème fraîche or lightly whipped heavy cream

First, make the Raspberry Sauce. If not using it right away, cover and refrigerate.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.

In another medium bowl, use a wire whisk to beat the eggs lightly. Whisking continuously, pour in the buttermilk (or buttermilk and milk), melted butter and vanilla extract. Quickly whisk in the flour mixture, stirring only until the ingredients are combined.

Heat a nonstick electric griddle, stovetop griddle or heavy frying pan or skillet over medium-high heat.

When the griddle or pan is hot, lightly coat it with nonstick cooking spray or a little flavorless vegetable oil. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding, use a tablespoon to spoon the batter onto the griddle, forming small pancakes each about 2 inches in diameter. Cook until bubbles break through the surface of the batter, about 1 minute. Use a thin spatula to flip each pancake over, then cook until the undersides are nicely browned, about 30 seconds more. As the pancakes are done, transfer them to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Serve the pancakes hot on individual dessert plates, topping each one with a spoonful of raspberry sauce and a dollop of crème fraîche or whipped cream.

RASPBERRY SAUCE

Makes about 1 cup

2 cups frozen raspberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Put the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small nonreactive saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the berries have give up their juices and the mixture is thick and syrupy, 8 to 10 minutes.

Place a fine-meshed sieve over a mixing bowl. Pour the berry mixture into the sieve. With a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon, press down on the fruit, mashing it against the sieve, to pass the berry pulp and juices into the bowl while straining out the seeds. If not using the sauce right away, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving time.