Koeksisters

Recipe from Granny Bess's newspaper

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp mixed spice

• 4 eggs (well beaten)

• 1/2 cup butter (melted)

• 1 yeast cake

Method

Soften the yeast with a little sugar and 1/4 cup of warm water, mix into eggs and melted butter and stir into the other ingredients. Kneed well together and allow to rise untol doubled in bulk.

Roll out on a floured board 25mm strip about 50mm long. Split each into three lengthwise almost to one end and plait. Drop koeksisters into deep fat or hot oil, and cook until golden brown. Remove, dip immediately into ice-cold syrup and place on cake cooler to allow excess syrup to drain off.

To make the syrup put 5 cups sugar, 1 piece naartjie skin, 3 cups cold water, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and a few sticks of cinnamon into saucepan. Boil for seven minutes. Remove from the heat and chill thoroughly. This is one of the secrets of good koeksisters.