Food Recipe: Baklava

Inspired by my trip to Greece earlier this year, I decided to try my hand at making baklava. I thought the combo of nuts, honey, sugar, and dough would make a perfect holiday dessert recipe. But I was a little intimidated- I had never worked with phyllo dough before. Luckily, everything ended up delicious- and it wasn't difficult either! I got my recipe from About.com.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound frozen phyllo sheets
• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 cups of chopped walnuts and almonds
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup of honey
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

DIRECTIONS: Thaw phyllo sheets according to box directions. The recipe says to keep the sheets covered with a damp cloth until used- I choose instead to just work really fast. Make sure to have all of your other ingredients ready before you unpack the phyllo.

Place half of the pastry sheets in a greased baking pan, one by one, brushing each sheet all over with melted butter. Combine the nuts, 1/2 cup of sugar, and cinnamon; sprinkle over buttered pastry. Place the remaining phyllo sheets on top, again brushing each with melted butter. Cut the baklava into pieces. Bake at 400 degrees about 30 minutes until brown and crisp.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine 3/4 cup of sugar, honey, water, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then boil for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until syrupy. I am not sure if I cooked mine long enough, because it didn't get very syrupy, but it still worked fine. Then pour over the baked baklava.

OVERALL: Very tasty! Such a good dessert! And, other than the hassle of buttering each individual phyllo sheet, it was super easy. Even better, I think the baklava tastes better the next day- once the syrup has had a chance to soak and caramelize the dough.