This past weekend I was needing to make a dessert, but didn't want to do the standard cake or cupcakes. I opened my freezer and found some frozen phyllo dough, so of course I thought of Baklava. I found this recipe in my Taste of Home Cookbook and thought I'd give it a try. It was my first time making Baklava - I thought it would be complicated, but instead it was fast and easy. I cut the entire recipe in half becaause I didn't have a big enough baking dish - I used an 8 x 8 x 1 baking dish. The result was an excellent but unique dessert, which we gobbled up in just a few days. I highly recommend buying the frozen phyllo dough for that cold, rainy day when you just need to bake something different.
Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 pound butter, melted, divided
2 packages (16 ounces each, 14-inch x 9-inch sheet size) frozen phyllo dough, thawed
SYRUP:
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 cup honey
1 tablespoon grated lemon or orange peel
Directions
In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cloves; set aside. Brush a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with some of the butter. Unroll one package of phyllo dough; cut stack into a 10-1/2-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Repeat with remaining phyllo. Discard scraps.
Line bottom of prepared pan with two sheets of phyllo dough (sheets will overlap slightly). Brush with butter. Repeat layers 14 times. (Keep dough covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel until ready to use to prevent it from drying out.)
Spread with 2 cups walnut mixture. Top with five layers of phyllo dough, brushing with butter between each sheet. Spread with remaining walnut mixture. Top with one layer of phyllo dough; brush with butter. Repeat 14 times. Cut into 2-1/2-in. squares; cut each square in half diagonally. Brush remaining butter over top. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.
In a large saucepan, bring the syrup ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and discard peel; cool to lukewarm. Pour syrup over warm baklava. Yield: 4 dozen.
Nutrition Facts: 1 serving equals 271 calories, 16 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 21 mg cholesterol, 162 mg sodium, 30 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein.
Baklava published in Taste of Home April/May 2001, p48
10 comments:
Wow! Andrew and I are coming right over!! Any left?? -- You really out did yourself!! You're going to fatten up that Randy of yours! LOL!
You MADE this?! Wow! It looks so delicious, and I love baklava. But I've never MADE it.
Barb - Nope, there is none left! I think I ate most of it!!
Genny - I love bablava, too, but I never thought about making it before. It was SOOO easy! You should give it a try! You just have to get that phyllo dough already made. Now, if we had to make the phyllo dough from scratch, that would be near impossible!!
~ Lynn
Baklava...a magic word in my book. Mmmmm, looks perfect.
That looks amazing! Never had it before, but thanks to you I am going to give it a try. :)
Oh yummy looking. I've only had Baklava once but I can't remember what it tasted like.
Mmmmmm! My hubby loves baklava. This looks wonderful.
oh my gosh that looks soooooooo good!
Gail - it's a magic thing to me, too!
Cindy - it's very sweet, but gooood! I liked it cold better than warm.
Robin - I remember the first time I tried it, I was like, "Wow, what is in this?" It's very sweet - with honey on top.
Knatolee - My hubby likes it, too, which surprises me - he's not a big dessert person.
Texan - Thank you, it was good!
~Lynn
Hello,nice post thanks for sharing?. I just joined and I am going to catch up by reading for a while. I hope I can join in soon.
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