Baklava
Here's one of those desserts that just screams, "Its Christmas!!" I usually walk away from recipes that blatantly call for 1 pound of butter. But heck, its December. I live by a simple saying this time of year, its printed on my apron:
What? A little hard to read backwards? Sorry, photo booth needs to come up with an image reversal tool. It reads:
Be of good spice
Be of good cheer
Count blessings, not Calories
This time of year
Sorry about the creepy photo. Its the only one I got and I'm to tired tonight to go snap another one without bags under my creepy eyes.
Anyway, back to the baklava. Its super rich- one piece is usually enough to satisfy. And its perfectly paired with a nice cup of joe. I'm fairly certain that you can serve this for either breakfast or dessert, sort of like most pastries.
No really, you must serve this with coffee-and Starbucks has their Christmas blend out right now, could life get any better?
Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough 1 pound chopped nuts 1 cup butter 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon | 1 cup water 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup honey |
| 1. | Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan. |
| 2. | 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. |
| 3. | Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp. |
| 4. | Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes. |
| 5. | Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up. |
Sorry about the weird numbering. I copied this from allrecipes.com where it got 5 star reviews (800+ in all), so you know its got to be good.
3 comments:
helloooo baklava. what's a better way to start Friday morning than a picture like that? I'm totally trying this....and no, one piece is never enough.
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I love baklava!! I'm going to try this recipe!
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