Homemade Baklava

I love baklava in all it's glorious sugary stickiness. I have only ever purchased it. At a bakery, at a restaurant. I have never made it before. Earlier this week I was invited to a new friends house for dinner.  She was making moussaka.  I love moussaka. I don't actually remember the last time I ate it. Another friend volunteered to bake Greek potatoes, and someone else was making rice and a Greek salad. So I was on the list for dessert.

 

I thought I'd drop by the store and see if I could buy some baklava. But then I had the bright idea to see if I could make it myself. And you know what? It's actually pretty easy. 

 

I used this recipe from all recipes.  The most time consuming part was layering all the pastry.

 

Was it successful? I think so. So when Jo comes to visit for Christmas I will be making this for our eclectic Christmas meal.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 x 16oz (454g) package Phyllo pastry
• 1 lb of chopped nuts - I used walnuts
• 1 cup butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon - I used lots more. 
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup honey - real honey, not imitiation honey. I didn't even know there was such a thing as imitiation honey until I standing in the grocery store aisle looking at it.
• 1 tsp vanilla extract - again I used lot more.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). 
• Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan. (I used parchment paper)
• Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. 
• Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan.
•  Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. 
• Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered.
• Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. 
• Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. 
• The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
• Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. 
• Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.

 

 

• Make sauce while baklava is baking. 
• Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. 
• Add vanilla and honey. 
• Simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it.
• Let cool. 

This freezes well. 
Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

 

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