Baklava - Amaze and Impress Your Friends!

Hi,

It has been a cold and snowy winter and with R traveling so much I haven't been trying too many new recipes. In fact, I have resorted to fruit and toast with cheese on more occasions than I would like to admit. Here's a recipe I have made a bunch of times. It's easy and except for a bit of assembly and cutting, it will impress and amaze your friends. You'll get comments like, "Wow, you made this?!?! I always thought that Baklava was really difficult to make." You can decide for yourself how you want to comment. Just be sure to thaw the phyllo ahead at room temperature at least a couple of hours before you would like to assemble.

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough - Thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

1 pound chopped nuts (I like to use a combination of walnuts and almonds)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

If you have a food processor available, use it to chop the nuts with the cinnamon. Just be careful and don't chop the nuts too finely. Set aside

1 cup butter, melted

It's helpful if you have a pastry brush available to brush on the butter. I like a more liberal application of butter, if you don't, you may have some butter left after assembly. Unroll the phyllo, depending on the size of the sheets, you may need to cut the sheets in half to fit into the pan.

You will need to make layers of the phyllo, butter and nuts, use the directions that follow.

1) phyllo
2) butter


Repeat 1 and 2 until you have used 8 sheets of phyllo buttered in the bottom of the pan.

3) Sprinkle a little less than 1/4 cup of chopped nuts evenly over the surface.
4) phyllo
5) butter
6) phyllo
7) butter

Repeat 3 through 7 until you have used all but 6 - 8 sheets which remain for the top layer.

8) phyllo
9) butter

Continue repeating 8 and 9 until all the phyllo sheets are used. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes, be sure you cut all the way through all the layers. I find the square shapes easier to deal with but not as festive and fancy as the diamond shapes. Bake for about 50 minutes until the baklava is golden and crisp. While the baklava bakes, prepare the sauce.

1 cup water
1 cup white sugar

Boil the water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)

Mix together the vanilla, honey and zest. Simmer for about 20 minutes. When the baklava is crisp and golden, remove from oven and carefully pour the sauce over the baklava. Let cool. I think it's nice to serve the baklava into individual cupcake papers. I have also halfed this recipe when the full recipe was too much.

I hope you will amaze and astonish your friends with your culinary creation.

Hugs,
Mameekosan