Teiglach, which is Yiddish for “dough balls” (teig is the Yiddish word for “dough”), is an old-fashioned Ashkenazi Rosh Hashana cake assembled from hundreds of tiny balls of honey-soaked dough. A generation ago, Teiglach was a staple in Jewish bakeries. Today you can hardly find it. Most people don’t bother to bake it because it is such a patchke (labor-intensive job). Truthfully, it does take considerable time and patience to
cut up and prepare all those tiny balls of dough, but the results are yummy and also quite pretty. If you are serious about trying this, get your kids or friends on board to help out. The walnuts listed in the recipe — inspired by the teiglach recipe in A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman — are optional, since for Rosh Hashana it’s customary to abstain from nuts, whose Hebrew name, egoz, has the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word chait, which means “sin.” You can bake the dough puffs first and make syrup and assemble the next day. 3 large eggs 1 teaspoon vegetable oil ⅓ cup plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar ¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus additional as necessary to make a workable dough ¾ cup honey 1 teaspoon ground ginger (optional) 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) ¾ cup shredded coconut (optional) Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease a second baking sheet. Whisk eggs, oil, 1 teaspoon sugar, and salt in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat in flour gradually to make a very soft dough. Turn dough out onto a floured board. Continue adding flour until you have a very soft, workable dough. Roll out into pencil-thin strips and cut into pieces, ½ inch or a little bigger. Teiglach puffs don’t have to be perfect. Lay pieces on the parchment-lined baking
sheet so they don’t touch and bake at 375 ° F until they are puffed up and golden brown (about 20 minutes).
Heat honey and sugar together in a saucepan, and boil very gently for 3 to 5 minutes until the syrup is amber colored. Lower heat, stir in dough puffs and optional nuts and ginger, tossing with the syrup. Take care not to break the puffs. Pour the honey-soaked dough puffs onto the lightly greased baking sheet. Teiglach are sticky. Dipping your hands in cold water, mold the puffs into small pyramids. Sprinkle with coconut, if desired. Let cool before serving. If not serving right away, store in an airtight container. Freezes well. Serves
Ungar, Carol. Jewish Soul Food: Traditional Fare and What It Means (Kindle Locations 1098-1102). Brandeis. Kindle Edition.