Baklava is the sweet, chewy, yet slightly crunchy honey-drenched nut and filo dough dessert served throughout Greece and the Middle East.
Here's a Baklava recipe that uses standard measurements. The trickiest part is coping with the filo dough, which can be bought frozen in many markets, or use strudel dough instead.
Difficulty Level: Average Time Required: 120 minutes
Here's How:
- Get together the following ingredients: 1 pound unsalted (sweet) butter, melted
1 pound filo dough sheets
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!
- Too many filo sheets together can get gummy. If in doubt, skimp on the filo.
- Work quickly with the filo - as it is exposed to air, it starts to dry out.
- Use only butter, not margarine or other substitutes.
Related Features:
- Greek Recipes
- Mavrodaphne Barbecue Sauce
- Food and Wine in Greece
- Dining Out Greek for the Timid
- Retsina - Greek Wine of the Gods
