Baklava
This is one of my two favorite desserts. I just made it for the first time. Wonderful taste of honey and nuts; it's buttery and crispy from the fillo dough.
This is one of my two favorite desserts. I just made it for the first time. Wonderful taste of honey and nuts; it's buttery and crispy from the fillo dough.
- Carbohydrate 26.114992 g
- Cholesterol 65.1306666666667 mg
- Fat 39.2799866666667 g
- Fiber 2.65977333141963 g
- Protein 7.99457733333333 g
- Saturated Fat 17.6028454666667 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (115g)
- Sodium 181.162 mg
- Sugar 23.4552186685804 g
- Trans Fat 2.443554 g
- Calories 468 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
- 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.
- 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.
- Make sauce while baklava is baking.
- Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted.
- Add vanilla and honey and lemon zest.
- Simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it.
- let coool
Working with fragile phyllo dough requires a damp cloth draped directly over the unrolled stack to prevent the paper-thin sheets from drying out and shattering before they hit the butter. Brushing melted butter between every two sheets builds the structural fat needed to separate the dough layers during baking, which yields a crisp 350-degree oven result rather than a dense, heavy pastry. Chopping walnuts uniformly with ground cinnamon ensures the nut mixture distributes evenly between the buttered layers without creating heavy pockets that might tear the delicate pastry underneath.
Scoring the unbaked pastry all the way to the bottom of the 9x13-inch pan with a sharp knife creates channels for the syrup to penetrate deep into the interior during the final stages. Pouring the simmering sugar, honey, lemon zest, and vanilla syrup over the pastry immediately upon extraction from the oven creates an audible sizzle, driving the liquid into the flaky interior while keeping the top crust audibly crisp after 50 minutes of baking.
Rich, sweet desserts require sharp, bitter accompaniments to balance the palate, making unsweetened black coffee or bracingly tart herbal tea ideal pairings. The high sugar concentration and dry pastry structure also mean this confection stores well at room temperature for up to five days without losing its essential crunch.
Pistachios or almonds can replace walnuts at a one-to-one ratio, though oily nuts like walnuts absorb the baking butter differently than denser almonds, yielding a slightly softer interior crumb. Clarified butter or ghee may substitute for standard butter to eliminate milk solids that can burn during extended baking times, maintaining a cleaner flavor profile throughout.
