One of the lesser know but no less important Chanukah traditions is to serve dairy products (think Shavuot with its long Cheesecake tradition) along with the over abundance of fried foods we like to gobble down. Legend has it that a woman named Judith saved her village from the occupying Syrians. Judith fed wine and cheese to the Syrian general who was terrifying the local population, he over indulged became so drunk that he fell asleep. Judith killed him (took off his head and put it in her basket) and the walked right out of the camp under the guards noses. When the general’s troops found his body the next day (minus the head, of course) they abandoned their position and went home leaving the Jews to live in their village in peace.
There is no one specific dairy food that I serve on Chanukah EXCEPT for the sour cream on my latkes. That being said, there is no real rhyme or reason to the following collection of recipes, other than they’re great and contain lots and lots of butter, and cheese, milk and cream.