25 Easy Jewish Desserts To Make At Home

✔ Updated October 19, 2026 · sorted by holiday + a real featured mandel bread recipe

Jewish desserts are a delicious mix of traditions, shaped by Eastern European, Middle Eastern and North African kitchens and by the holidays they are made for. I love baking my way through the year with them, one holiday at a time.

This list of 25 easy Jewish desserts is sorted by occasion: fried sufganiyot and chocolate gelt for Hanukkah, filled hamantaschen for Purim, flourless macaroons and matzo treats for Passover, honey cake and apple cake for Rosh Hashanah, and babka, rugelach and mandel bread for Shabbat and every day in between. Below the list there is a full recipe for chocolate chip mandel bread, the crisp, twice-baked cookie that keeps for a week and fits almost any holiday table.

Why You'll Love These Jewish Desserts

• Something for every holiday, from Hanukkah and Purim to Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat.
• Plenty of easy wins, including no-fuss macaroons, matzo toffee and a one-bowl apple cake.
• A full recipe included: crisp, cinnamon-sugar chocolate chip mandel bread with step-by-step photos.

Jewish Desserts for Hanukkah

Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of oil, so fried treats lead the way, with chocolate and dreidel-themed sweets for the kids.

1. Sufganiyot. Soft, yeasted doughnuts fried until golden, then filled with jam through the side and dusted with powdered sugar. A piping bag makes filling them easy, and custard or chocolate spread are popular alternatives to strawberry jam. For another fried treat, try our copycat Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

2. Homemade Chocolate Hanukkah Gelt. Gelt is Yiddish for money, and chocolate coins are a Hanukkah tradition, often used as stakes in a game of dreidel. Melted chocolate is spooned into a coin mold or small rounds, set, then wrapped in gold foil if you like.

3. Candy Dreidels. A no-bake craft for kids: a marshmallow becomes the body of the dreidel, a pretzel stick the handle and a chocolate chip the tip, all held together with a little melted chocolate.

4. Dreidel Surprise Cookies. Buttery shortbread cut into dreidel shapes and sandwiched around a hidden pocket of colorful candies. Firm fillings work best, so they don't spill when bitten.

5. Hanukkah Dreidel Surprise Loaf Cake. A showstopper loaf with a hidden shape baked inside. A colored cake is baked, cut into shapes and lined up in vanilla batter, so every slice reveals a surprise.

Jewish Desserts for Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot

Honey and apples are eaten at the Jewish New Year for a sweet year ahead, and these cakes and treats carry right through the fall holidays.

6. Lekach (Honey Cake). A dense, moist cake sweetened with honey and warmed with cinnamon, cloves and often coffee or tea. It tastes even better a day or two after baking, which makes it a natural make-ahead dessert.

7. Jewish Apple Cake. A tall, oil-based cake layered with cinnamon-sugared apples. Because it uses oil instead of butter, it stays moist for days and is parve.

8. Honey and Lime Teiglach. Small knots of dough simmered in a ginger-spiced honey syrup until golden and sticky, here brightened with lime. They take patience but keep well.

9. Sweet and Spicy Tzimmes Cake. Inspired by tzimmes, the sweet carrot and sweet potato stew, this spiced Bundt cake is packed with grated carrots, sweet potato, apple and ginger. Frosting is optional.

Jewish Desserts for Purim

Purim is the holiday of hamantaschen, the three-cornered filled cookies said to recall the hat or ears of Haman, the story's villain.

10. Apricot Hamantaschen. Rounds of tender, buttery cookie dough folded into triangles around a spoonful of apricot jam. Chill the dough well and pinch the corners firmly so they hold their shape in the oven.

11. Chocolate-Filled Hamantaschen. The same triangle cookie with a chocolate filling that turns soft and fudgy as it bakes. A thick chocolate-hazelnut spread works in a pinch.

Jewish Desserts for Passover

Passover desserts skip leavened grain, so they rely on matzo, matzo cake meal, nuts, coconut and egg whites. Check each recipe and label if you keep kosher for Passover.

12. Coconut Macaroons. A five-ingredient, flourless Passover classic: shredded coconut bound with egg whites, honey or sugar and vanilla, baked until golden and toasty on the outside and chewy inside.

13. Chocolate Toffee Matzo Crack. Sheets of matzo covered in buttery brown-sugar toffee, baked, then topped with melted chocolate and a sprinkle of flaky salt. It looks impressive and is very easy.

14. Chocolate-Matzo Layer Cake. Matzo sheets soaked briefly in coffee or wine and layered with rich chocolate cream, then chilled until sliceable, a little like a tiramisu.

15. Passover Rainbow Cookies. The colorful three-layer almond cake held together with jam and topped with chocolate. Passover versions use matzo cake meal or almond flour instead of regular flour.

Jewish Desserts for Shabbat and Every Day

These bakery favorites show up on Shabbat tables, at the deli counter and with a cup of coffee any day of the week.

16. Blueberry Cream Cheese Babka. A rich, braided yeast loaf swirled with sweet cream cheese and blueberries. Chilling the dough overnight makes it much easier to roll and twist.

17. Chocolate Chip Mandel Bread. Twice-baked, oil-based cookies that are crisp at the edges and tender in the middle, a cousin of Italian biscotti. The full recipe is below.

18. Rugelach. Tender cream cheese dough rolled around a filling such as cinnamon sugar, nuts, raisins, jam or chocolate, then shaped into little crescents.

19. Chocolate Challah. The soft, braided Shabbat egg bread with chocolate chips worked into the dough. Leftovers make outstanding French toast.

20. Halva. A dense, crumbly sesame confection made by mixing hot sugar syrup into tahini. Timing matters, because the mixture sets quickly once it comes together.

21. Tahini Cookies. Simple, tender cookies made with tahini, which adds a gentle toasted sesame flavor and a sandy, melt-in-the-mouth texture.

22. Egg Kichel (Bow Tie Cookies). A light egg dough rolled out in sugar, cut into strips, twisted into bow ties and baked until puffed and crisp. Lightly sweet and great with tea.

23. Sweet Lokshen Kugel. A baked egg noodle pudding with cottage cheese, sour cream or cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon and raisins, served warm or cold, often at break-fast and holiday meals.

24. Adaptable Parve Shabbat Torte. Puff pastry cups baked and filled with fruit compote, then dusted with powdered sugar. With a dairy-free pastry, it is parve and can follow a meat meal. Best eaten the day it is made.

25. Marak Perot (Fruit Soup). Marak perot means fruit soup in Hebrew: peaches, strawberries and oranges simmered gently in a light syrup until soft, then served chilled.

Featured Recipe: Chocolate Chip Mandel Bread

Mandel bread (also spelled mandelbrot, from the Yiddish for almond bread) is one of the easiest Jewish desserts to bake at home. The dough comes together in two bowls with oil instead of butter, so it is parve as long as the chocolate chips are dairy-free. Shape it into logs, bake, slice and toast the slices again with cinnamon sugar for cookies that keep for about a week.

How to Make Mandel Bread, Step by Step

Here's how it comes together. Exact amounts, times and temperatures are in the recipe card below.

Tips for Success

• Chill the dough. Oil-based mandel bread dough is soft and sticky. Thirty minutes in the fridge makes it far easier to shape into neat logs. I mix the dough before dinner and shape the logs once the dishes are done.
• Oil your hands, not the dough. A little oil on your palms lets you shape the logs without working in extra flour, which would make the slices dry.
• Rest before slicing. Let the logs cool for 10 minutes, then use a serrated knife with a gentle sawing motion. Cut too soon and they crumble; wait too long and they crack.
• Toast to your taste. A shorter second bake gives tender slices; a few extra minutes per side gives a crisper, biscotti-like cookie.
• Keep it parve. The recipe uses oil instead of butter, so it is dairy-free as long as the chocolate chips are dairy-free, which makes it easy to serve after a meat meal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some traditional Jewish desserts?

Popular traditional Jewish desserts include honey cake (lekach), Jewish apple cake, hamantaschen, rugelach, babka, mandel bread, sufganiyot, coconut macaroons, sweet noodle kugel and halva. Many are tied to a holiday, such as sufganiyot for Hanukkah and hamantaschen for Purim.

What does parve mean for desserts?

Parve (or pareve) describes food that contains neither meat nor dairy, so under kosher rules it can be served with either kind of meal. Parve desserts usually use oil or a dairy-free spread instead of butter, like the mandel bread recipe on this page.

Which Jewish desserts are eaten at Hanukkah?

Fried foods are traditional at Hanukkah, so sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts) are the classic dessert. Chocolate gelt coins, dreidel-shaped treats and cookies are also popular, especially with children.

Which Jewish desserts work for Passover?

Passover desserts avoid leavened grain, so they are usually made with matzo, matzo cake meal, ground nuts or no flour at all. Coconut macaroons, chocolate toffee matzo, flourless cakes and matzo layer cakes are common choices. Check each recipe and ingredient label if you keep kosher for Passover.

What is the difference between mandel bread and biscotti?

Both are twice-baked cookies cut from a baked log, and I think of mandel bread as biscotti’s softer cousin. Mandel bread is usually made with oil and is a little richer and more tender, while Italian biscotti are typically drier and harder. Mandel bread often includes chocolate chips, nuts or cinnamon sugar.

How long does mandel bread keep?

Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, mandel bread keeps for about 1 week. It also freezes well for up to 3 months; thaw it at room temperature or crisp it in a 300°F oven for a few minutes.