Recipe Baklava

[NicheGuy]

This is a recipe of my late mother for homemade Baklava (See History of Baklava)

Make baklava at least 24 hours ahead of time -- a week is best. The longer you let the Baklava sit, the better it gets. After everything gathered and the nut mixture done, assemble the baklava in about 45 minutes -- the time before you need to start working on the syrup for the batch in the oven. Each pan makes 35 - 45 nice pieces depending on how close your cuts are.

Remember that the frozen phyllo (pronounced FEE-low) dough needs to thaw in the refrigerator for around 6 hours. If you thaw it at room temperature, the individual sheets of phyllo dough will stick together. Once you open the phyllo dough you will want to keep working.

Ingredients:
1 lb Walnuts - Finely Chopped

1/2 C. Sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

1.5 C. Butter (3 sticks), Melted

1 Package Frozen Phyllo Dough (16 oz) Thawed
1 C. Sugar

1 C. Water

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 C. Honey (Net weight 12 oz.)

1/2 tsp Vanilla

The steps:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

1. Combine and set aside walnuts, 1/2 cup sugar, and cinnamon
2. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the bottom and sides of a Jelly Roll Pan (15.5" x 10.5" x 1") with melted butter.
3. Open the phyllo dough and layer 6 whole leafs (or 12 half leafs) in the pan, buttering each layer as you go. (The edges will extend over the side.)
4. Spread 1 cup of the walnut mixture.
5. Cut the remaining phyllo dough in half.
6. Layer 8 half sheets -- butter each layer. Each sheet will be an inch or so short, so stagger the sheets from corner to corner to cover the whole pan.
7. Spread 1 cup of the walnut mixture.
8. Repeat 8 sheets and walnut mixture twice. You will end up with 4 layers of nuts.
9. Layer the remaining half sheets on top -- butter each layer.
10. Brush the top with the remaining butter.
11. Trim the edges off.
12. Cut halfway through the layers using the pattern shown. (Note: Do NOT cut from corner to corner.) This is done now since it will be very fragile after it's been baked.

1. Bake 1 hour or until golden brown.
2. 15 minutes before the baklava should be done, mix 1 cup sugar, water, and lemon juice in a sauce pan.
3. Cook sauce over a medium heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, add the honey and vanilla, and stir until well blended.
5. Remove the baklava from the oven and finish cutting through the layers.
6. Pour the sauce over the hot baklava.
7. Cool. Let it sit for at least 24 hours (lightly covered -- but not in the refrigerator)
8. Serve individual pieces is to put each one into a muffin cup that has been partially flattened.

Enjoy!

 

[jodiann12]

I love this recipe! Thanks for sharing it. This recipe reminds me of a pastry we make in Jamaica, called peanut brittle. Obviously, instead of walnuts we use peanuts. It's very tasty. I would love to try this recipe as soon as I can get a hold of some phyllo dough. That's quite difficult to find here.

 

[Annetteb]

I have been looking for a good recipe like this and I can't wait to try it out and see how it comes out. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[MoniqueS]

That looks amazing! I really love the taste of Baklava. I think it is largely due to the fact that I love honey and nuts. It looks like it would be challenging to make, but it doesn't sound too complicated. It just requires a fair amount of time, but the end result is worth it. I haven't experimented with phyllo dough very much, but I remember being surprised by how resilient it is. It looks so delicate and tricky to bake with, but it really isn't that challenging. Since Baklava is quite sweet, I find a small portion really satisfying.