It’s that time of the year again! Thanksgiving and Christmas. One of my favorite things to eat around this time is Baklava. For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a rich, delicious dessert made of phyllo pastry, filled with nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. You can change the recipe by adding dried fruit, too, but I prefer the classic. Below is a recipe for Hazelnut and Almond Baklava
Hazelnut and Almond Baklava
For Syrup
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1 lemon; halved
1 orange; halved
1 1/2 cinnamon sticks
2/3 cup honey
For Baklava
3 1/4 cup whole almonds with skin; finely chopped*
2 1/3 cup whole hazelnuts; finely chopped*
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg; freshly grated**
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks unsalted butter; melted and slightly cooled
1 package phyllo dough (17” x 12”); thawed if frozen
Make Syrup:
Combine suagr and water in a 2 1/2 quart saucepan. Sqeeze the juice from the lemon and orange into the sugar mixture. Add fruit halves and cinnamon sticks. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add honey and return to a boil. Remove from heat and strain through a metal sieve, removing the solids. Allow to cool at room temperature and then chill for 1 hour.
Assemble and bake Baklava:
1. Put an oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 350 degrees
2. Whisk together almonds, hazelnuts, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt until combined well.
3. Place a sheet pan upside down on your work space and cover with a damp towel. Place phyllo on top of damp towel and cover with plastic, then cover with another damp towel (this is VERY important! It keeps your phyllo from drying and cracking.)
4. Gently brush a 9”x13” glass baking pan with melted butter.
5. PLace one half of a single phyllo sheet into the bottom of the buttered pan and then fold the other half over to cover the bottom completely. That single sheet will make two layers. Brush top layer with melted butter. Repeat this action 4 more times, brushing each second sheet with melted butter. You will do this 5 times in all and have a total of 10 layers.
6. Sprinkle nut mixture on top of phyllo to cover evenly
7. Repeat step 5 and step 6, three more times and then top with another layer of phyllo (step 5). You will use 25 sheets of phyllo dough (50 if you count 1 sheet as two layers)
8. Butter the tip and let sit for 10 minutes, then using a sharp knife cut the baklava into 16 equal squares and then cut each of those diagonally.
9. Bake Baklava until golden, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer dish to a rack to cool, then slowly pour cold syrup around edges of hot baklava, in the cracks and over the top. Let stand at room temp for at least 8 hours. Cover once baklava is at room temp. Do not chill.
*Resist the urge to chop your nuts in a food processor. It releases more oil from the nuts and results in a heavier baklava.
**Ground nutmeg will also work
Well, there it is. It might look complicated, but once you get comfortable with what you’re doing, then it’s easy and so worth it. Experimentation is encouraged. If you have any questions regarding procedure or ingredients, etc, feel free to ask!
-Gastronomy Gal
