I like to slice it into thin wedges for my cookie tray. Although it sounds complicated, once you get going it really isn't difficult.
Filling:
2 Pounds Of Raisins
2 Pounds Coarsely Chopped Walnuts
1 Cup Whiskey
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cinnamon
Juice Of 1 Orange
Dash Of Anisette
Combine all filling ingredients in a glass bowl, cover and let sit overnight, stirring occasionally.
Dough:
7 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Cup White Wine
5 Eggs
Zest From 1 Lemon And 1 Orange
2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Oil
1/2 Cup Whiskey
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Dash Of Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
Toothpicks
Topping:
1 Cup Honey
Colored Sprinkles
Make a mound of the flour on a pastry board or counter. Make a well in the center, and using a fork, begin to add in the remaining ingredients until you have created a dough. Knead with additional flour as needed until smooth. Divide into 6 Equal sized balls. Covering the rest of the balls, take one and begin to run it through a pasta machine to flatten. Continue to lightly flour and pass through increasingly narrow openings, until the dough is between 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Place on the counter, and using a scalloped pastry wheel, run it along the outside edges of each side of the dough.
Next using the pastry wheel, cut the strip of dough in half lengthwise into two ribbons. On each half of the ribbon, sprinkle on some of the walnut, raisin mixture and fold to close. Starting at one end, begin to roll up the dough into a coil, using toothpicks to support it as needed. Continue until you have an 8 inch cake, using some of the second strip as needed. Continue using all of the dough up in this manner.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the cakes on a lightly floured baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Melt the honey in a pot and brush each of the cakes lightly over the top. Sprinkle with the candy sprinkles and bake an additional 10 minutes. Let cool completely and then wrap in foil to store. To serve, remove the toothpicks and cut into wedges.
Note:
I recently had a reader who wrote to me that they had made this recipe, and had found a few tricks that helped simplify things. I will include these tips below for you to consider. I had made the recipe exactly as it had been described to me, which is the way the family has made it for generations. Tips to make life easier, are always helpful!
From Jim Haupt:
Item 1: A pasta machine really helps, although I roll the dough until 1/4 inch thick, then run through the pasta machine's largest setting. It comes out kind of crinkled, but I throw it onto a floured counter top and finish rolling it out to 1/6 inch thick - I can almost see my fingers when I hold the dough in my hand.
Item 2: The filling causes a problem if it's too chunky, so I use a food processor to chop the walnuts fine and the raisins until they start to ball up. I mixed the raisin and nuts throughly with hands, then added the liquid ingredients, previously whipped.
Item 3: I used a pastry cutter to cut 2 3/4 inch strips. (I do too, a fluted one!)
Item 4: To insure an even distribution of filling along the center line of the dough strips, I used a spatula to flatten the mixture on a cookie sheet to 1/8 inch thick, then used a chefs' knife to drag a 3/8 inch strip to the edge of the cookie sheet to deposit a perfect bead of filling onto the pastry strip, using a spatula to coax it off the edge of the knife.
Item 4: To fold the pastry over the filling, I used a chefs' knife to work my way from one end to the other to form a roll 4-5 inches indiameter.
Jim states, "This size roll is ideal for individual servings with coffe, cut into quaters." Thanks Jim for your helpful tips! I will try them myself when I make these cakes this Christmas.
