Some of my grad school friends and I get together to eat Sunday Dinner, and we always divide up the work load. This week, I had dessert. I wanted to try out a recipie for Apple Purses, because I have a few Granny Smiths that are going to be too ripe in a few days. However, I decided on Baklava instead, after deciding that if I'm going to work with pastry dough, I might as well enter the big leagues of phyllo dough.
There are as many baklava recipies as there are Greek families, but here's a simple one:
*1 package of phyllo dough (mine was 8 oz.)
*2 cups chipped pecans (any favorite nut will work)
*1/2 cup butter (melted)
*1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
*1 cup water
*1 cup white sugar
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*1/2 cup honey
-Heat oven to 350, butter bottom of 9x13 baking dish
-Combine cinnamon and nuts and unroll phyllo dough
-Lay 3-5 sheets of phyllo dough on bottom of dish (guesstimate, lean more towards 5 sheets but don't worry about counting all those tiny sheets)
-Brush lightly with butter and sprinkle on some of the nuts. Cover the whole area but don't pile them on, because you don't want the layers to weigh too much.
-Layer about 2 sheets of dough over the nuts, brush with butter. Repeat until all the nuts are gone.
-Cover the top with roughly 5 sheets of dough. Brush top with butter.
-Cut baklava into pieces (diagonal is traditional but live on the edge!) Score the tops of each piece a bit.
-Bake for 50 minutes, or until top is fully golden brown.
-While that bakes, mix sugar and water and bring to a boil in a small saucepan.
-Mix in vanilla and honey and simmer for 20 minutes.
-Once the baking is done, spoon the sauce on top of the baklava.
-Let cool completely, until the dough hardens and enjoy!
I found it was best if I worked fast with the phyllo, but be careful when unrolling it. It breaks super easily, of course. The dessert was a hit!
