Hanukkah is known as the "festival of lights" and is a holiday in which oil has a special meaning. To put it very, very briefly, Hanukkah celebrates a miraculous occurrence where one night's worth of oil burned for eight. There is a lot of oil used in foods that are served for this holiday and much of it is used for frying. The two most well-know Hanukkah staples are sufganiyah (jelly-filled donuts) and latkes, or potato pancakes. As good as these two foods are, health-conscious holiday revelers don't always want to completely blow their diet with a meal of entirely fried foods, nor do they want to restrict themselves to only a few bites of this holiday favorite. Recognizing the health conscious, many people who host Hanukkah parties plan to serve baked latkes, as well as fried.

Baked latkes are often undercooked and not nearly as crispy as fried ones, but this recipe makes an excellent stand-in that is better than most. A minimal amount of oil is still used to grease the baking sheets, and the latkes turn out to be very crispy and very satisfying - with far less fat than ordinary latkes. They have a good potato flavor and, because they are thin, are not undercooked in the center.

Oven Baked Latkes
1-lb. russet potatoes (or Yukon Gold)
1 small, sweet onion
1 large egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 425F.
Wash and dry potatoes and remove the dry, outer skin from the onion (there is no need to peel the potatoes). Grate, perferable using a fairly large/coarse grater, potatoes and onion. Place mixture in a collanger or sieve and press down firmly with a paper towel to remove some of the excess moisture. Stir potato mixture and repeat.
Transfer potato mixture to a large bowl and stir in the egg. In a small bowl, mix together the baking powder, salt and flour, then stir that in as well.
Drop latke mixture in 2-3 tbsp measures, forming 2-3 inch pancakes that are about 1/4 inch thick (sightly thicker is ok), on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then turn the pancakes over, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Latkes should be deep gold on both sides when done, so add a minute or two to the baking time, if necessary.
The latkes can be served immediately, but will stay crisp a bit longer than their fried counterparts and can also be served at room temperature.
Makes about 16 latkes, enough for 4 as a side.

This recipe can easily be doubled to make more.

(note: I reduced the amount of salt called for in the recipe in light of recent comments, but feel free to reduce to 1/2 tsp if salt-sensitive)