Latkes may be ubiquitous at Hanukkah here in the United States, but almost anything deep-fried is fair game, from Israeli jelly doughnuts to Spanish cheese fritters to whatever other tidbits one feels like browning in a good amount of bubbling oil.

Though they are not so common today, sweet rice fritters studded with raisins and pine nuts were what Italian Jews set on their holiday table.

I found this out from the second volume of Edda Servi Machlin’s wonderful book “The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews,” published in 1992, which I was flipping through looking for new Hanukkah ideas. Machlin has been the source of many of our family’s holiday staples, like the lemon pot roast my mother has been making for as long as I can remember and the spicy anchovy-laden roasted peppers she sometimes serves with it.

The rice fritters are vaguely reminiscent of arancini, the classic Sicilian fried rice balls, except they are pancake flat rather than orange round (arancia is Italian for orange). In place of the savory cheese and meat ragu that oozes from the center of a hot arancini, the rice fritters are filled with those raisins and pine nuts, scented with lemon zest and dusted with cinnamon sugar for an altogether sweeter experience.

What the two dishes have in common is the nubby soft bits of rice encased in a crisp fried shell, which can be as texturally thrilling as the brittle strands of potato in a latke.

For this recipe, I merged the two dishes into one. I kept the spherical form and molten cheese character of an arancini, but nixed the meat ragu in favor of the sweet raisin filling of the fritters. The exterior is crunchy, the insides soft and creamy, with a Parmesan savoriness that gives way to a sweet and heady burst of brandy-soaked raisins when you hit the center.

A bonus: Unlike latkes, which are at their best when made just before serving, arancini can take some advance preparations. You can cook the rice a day ahead and roll the rice balls up to four hours before frying. And, although they are at their gooiest served within minutes of frying, they still taste great an hour or two later.

Of course, you don’t need to celebrate Hanukkah to make them. These golden nuggets of deliciousness will be happily devoured whenever you’re ready to fry.