Baklava
Sweet
with a delightful texture, Baklava can become somewhat addicting.
Luckily the recipe is fairly easy, though it does take a bit of time to
put together. Versatile, you can alter the layers of phyllo/nuts giving
more or less nut layers as desired.
1 pkg Phyllo Dough, thawed in fridge overnight
Chopped nut mixture:
4 cups chopped Walnuts and Pistachios (we did about 2 1/2 cups walnuts to 1 1/2 cups pistachios - alter as desired or create your favorite nut combo)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
2 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 - 2 sticks melted butter
Syrup mixture:
1 1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbs lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350ºF and butter a 12 x 9-inch or a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Place the chopped nuts into a bowl and mix with the cinnamon, cardamom and sugar. Set aside.
Open
the phyllo dough and lay flat on the counter. Remove one sheet and
place in the bottom of the baking pan and lightly brush with some of the
melted butter. Place one to two more sheets of the dough on top of the
first one and brush with the melted butter. Repeat 6 times. Sprinkle
with enough of the chopped nut mixture to make a thin layer, then top
with another sheet of the dough. Brush again with butter and top with
another 2 sheets of the dough, repeat four times and sprinkle again with
a layer of the chopped nuts. Top again with a few layers of the phyllo
dough, brushing in between like you have been doing and add one more
layer of chopped nuts. Top once again with a few layers of the phyllo
dough (we did about 4, two sheet layers with butter in between) and finish with a brush of butter on the top layer.
Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the pan into equal squares (size is up to you!).
Place
the pan into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Turn the pan and
reduce the heat to 325ºF and bake until the Baklava is a nice golden
brown, 10-15 minutes longer. Watch closely as the dough will tend to
brown "all of a sudden".
While
the Baklava is cooking, prepare the syrup. Place the syrup ingredients
into a saucepan over low heat, stir occasionally until the sugar
dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the mixture
becomes somewhat syrupy, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat if the mixture
begins to foam up. Once you have a nice syrup, remove the cinnamon
stick and set aside to cool while the Baklava finishes baking.
Upon
removing baked Baklava from oven, drizzle about half of the slightly
cooled syrup over the hot Baklava. Allow to sit for a minute or two,
then drizzle more of the syrup evenly over the Baklava and into the cuts
and to the edges until the Baklava is evenly moistened. You may not
need all of the syrup, however you may save the reserved syrup, reheated
gently to add more if the Baklava dries out (if you keep it around long enough to dry out!). Alternatively, you may use all of the syrup.
Set
the moistened Baklava aside, uncovered, to completely cool. With
detailed taste testing, we found the Baklava improved after about 24
hours and became a lovely, sticky, sweet, nutty treat.
Store covered and keep at room temperature.
Store covered and keep at room temperature.
