Baklava is the sweet, chewy, yet slightly crunchy honey-drenched nut and filo dough dessert served throughout Greece. Here's a Baklava recipe that uses standard measurements.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 120 minutes
Here's How:
- Find a source of filo dough and purchase a 1 pound box filo dough sheets. Can't find filo? Get frozen strudel dough instead.
- Ingredients: 1 pound unsalted (sweet) butter, melted; 1.5 pounds chopped blanched almonds; 1 pound walnuts; 2/3 cup granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground allspice or cloves
- Thaw the filo. Melt the butter.
- Grind or chop together the walnuts and almonds, and mix together with the cinnamon, allspice or cloves, and sugar.
- Brush a rectangular pan with the melted butter. Handling the dough as little as possible, lay a sheet in the bottom of the pan. Brush it with butter.
- Repeat filo-butter process until you have about 10-12 layers.
- Then put a layer of the nuts and spices mixture on top of the sheet of filo, cover with another sheet of filo, paint that with butter, and continue in this manner until you've used all of your filling.
- Top with the same number of the filo sheets as you used for the bottom layer.
- Cut across the completed baklava with a sharp knife, into squares, triangles or diamonds.
- Bake at 350 for about an hour, or until evenly browned on top.
- Drench with a syrup made by simmering together 2 cups honey, 2 cups water, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon grated orange peel, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Enjoy!
Tips:
- Too many filo sheets together can get gummy. If in doubt, skimp on the filo. The trickiest part is coping with the filo dough, which can be bought frozen in many markets.
- Work quickly with the filo - as it is exposed to air, it starts to dry out.
- Use only butter, not margarine or other substitutes.
What You Need:
- Clear space
- Baking pan
- Measuring Cup
- Pastry brush
- Sauce pan
