Tayglach - pareve

The recipe originally appeared in "The Jewish Holiday Kitchen" by Joan Nathan (1974)

For the dough:

8 medium eggs

2 half eggshells full of water

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour (about)

1/2 cup walnuts

For the syrup:

1-1/3 pounds dark honey

1-2/3 cups sugar

4-1/3 cups water

2 teaspoons ginger

1. Starting with the dough, beat the eggs well. Add the water, oil, and sugar. Blend in the flour gradually and knead well, using enough flour to form a soft, manageable dough.

2. Break off some dough, about the size of a large walnut. On a floured board, roll out a coil of dough to 1/2-inch diameter. Place a quarter of a walnut about 1/2-inch from the end, roll up the dough like a honey bun, and set aside on the floured board. (Another way to make tayglakh is to take a larger amount of dough in your hands and roll out a much longer coil and cut it at 4 inch intervals. Then proceed as above.)

3. Bring the honey to a boil in a heavy casserole. Add sugar, 3 cups water, and 1 teaspoons ginger. Bring to a boil again. When the sugar has dissolved, drop in the tayglakh, one by one. Bring to a boil again, cover, and boil slowly for 20 minutes without removing the cover. At the end of 20 minutes, start stirring occasionally and cook 40 minutes more. Add 1 more teaspoon ginger (or to taste), cover, and continue cooking for another 1/2 hour, or until the tayglach are golden and sound hollow inside when tapped.

4. When the tayglakh are done, add 1-1/3 cups cold water to the honey syrup, mix well, and remove with a slotted spoon. Let the tayglakh cool, and serve.

NOTE: The finished tayglakh can be rolled in grated coconut or, instead of forming the dough into coils, bits can be cooked in the honey and then rolled in raisins and ground nuts.

Makes about 50