Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Winter Wednesday Wrecipes

Well, Christmas doesn’t begin with a “w”. What was with the internet today? Was everyone ordering online? Facebook barely worked at all. Anyway, it’s late; I almost skipped a recipe but realized I had this one on file already. I make a couple of pans of this very year- one whole pan goes to my boss, and I split the second into two smaller pans for a couple of special relatives.

Baklava

  • Honey Syrup (see recipe below)
  • ¾ cup each finely chopped pecans, walnuts & almonds
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • 1-1/4 cups butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 package (16 oz) Athens frozen filo dough-

use one roll of dough; save other for later or keep frozen. Please note there are approx. 21 leaves per roll of dough, though sometimes as many as 24 - divide total number by 3 for 3 equal amount layers of dough separated by 2 layers of nuts

Prepare honey syrup and set aside. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix nuts & spices.

Melt butter.

Brush bottom and sides of 9” x 13” baking pan (disposable aluminum works great) with some butter. Open filo and unfold leaves; cover with damp towel & plastic wrap to prevent drying (see filo package directions).

Carefully separate 1 leaf and set in buttered baking pan. Brush lightly with butter and repeat 6 times, ending with butter.

Sprinkle ½ the nut mixture evenly over top to edges. Layer 7 more filo leaves in pan, brushing each layer with butter. Sprinkle with remaining nut mixture. Layer remaining filo leaves over nuts, brushing each layer with butter.

With a sharp knife, cut pastry into 6 lengthwise strips about ½” deep (not thru to bottom of pan). Make diagonal cuts across strips ½” deep and 2” wide. Pour any remaining butter over top. Bake until golden brown, 22-28 minutes. Place pan on wire rack; pour Honey Syrup over top. Cool completely. Cut along scored lines to serve. Refrigerate leftovers, but best served at room temperature.

Honey Syrup

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1-3/4 TBSP fresh lemon juice
  • ½ cup honey

Heat sugar, water & lemon juice to boiling; stir until sugar is dissolved. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in honey. Cool and set aside.

baklava1

A bevy of bountiful baklava

2 comments:

Wanda said...

I'll leave this recipe to you....I can't even make cookies right and Baklava has GOT to be complicated!! But it sure sounds great!!!

xeyedmary said...

Hi Wanda-actually Baklava is just an assembly process- despite the long directions, it's just melted butter, nuts mixed with spices, layered in a pan with pre-made filo dough sheets. The only cooking is the honey syrup, and then throw it in the oven for 20 minutes or so and VEE-O-LA , as Coni Spinster would say. Try it, you'll like it!