Tuesday, March 9, 2010

RECIPE: Baklava


I've never made baklava from scratch before.  The last time I ate this was probably back in 1990 visiting my friend's house and she made some from scratch.  This week for the FNCCC we are working on Michael Symon's recipes.  He has a Greek-ish flare to his meals and they look so yummy.  But you know I'm a die-hard dessert person, and I had all the ingredients on hand to make his baklava.  I halved the recipe and baked it in a 5x9 casserole dish.  I don't like pistachios so I used a combination of almonds and pecans.  I had some homemade breadcrumbs in the freezer, so I used them too. 


Baklava
1/2 pound coarsely ground pecans and almonds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 sticks melted butter
16 sheets phyllo dough, thawed, cut in half

For the syrup:
1-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.  Combine nuts, cinnamon, breadcrumbs in a bowl; set aside.

Brush the casserole dish with butter.  Butter and layer 10 sheets of phyllo in the bottom of the casserole.  Sprinkle about 1/2 cup nut mixture over the phyllo.  Butter and layer 4 sheets of phyllos and top the nuts.  Repeat two more times.  Butter and layer the remaining 10 sheets of phyllo on top and brush the top with extra butter.  With a very sharp knife, cut diagonal slices about 1-1/2" apart to create diamond shaped pieces.  Bake until golden brown, about 45-60 minutes.  

Make the syrup:  Bring sugar, honey and water to a boil over medium heat and cook for 10-15 minutes.  Add the lemon juice and boil another 2 minutes.  Let the syrup cool.  

When the baklava comes out of the oven, pour the syrup over the baklava and let it soak for 6 hours or overnight.  

This is super sweet and I think we might die of sugar overload, but it was really good!

Enjoy!

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9 comments:

Sarah said...

It must have tasted authentic because it is SO VERY sweet. It looks great. Never thought it would be as easy as that. Pretty enough to serve to company and looks like you spent all day in the kitchen :) Thanks gor cooking with FNCCC~

Ticia said...

Must be pretty close to the real thing then, because all the baklava I've had I just about passed out from sugar overload. But, they're so good.

Anonymous said...

That looks soooo delicious...have to try it. It's not chocolate so maybe hubs won't scarf it down before I get a smidgeon of treat. Poor me.

Jenna @ Newlyweds said...

Looks delicious, I love dessert like this crispy flaky and sweet. Great job. I thought about making this one also, glad you did.

mub said...

This looks great! Baklava is one of those things that I can only have about a half a bite of but that half a bite is oh so good!

mub said...

I just wanted to pop back over and let you know that I think those chicken pinwheels would work fine in the freezer!

NKP said...

Wonderful! I have always wanted to make baklava. Well done!

SnoWhite said...

Never had baklava... but this looks good (minus the nuts!). Glad it turned out for you.

Anonymous said...

This was absolutely delicious!!!! I had the privilege of trying a bite.

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