Baklava

Have you ever stuck to your keyboard? or your table? or nearly everything else you put your fingers on?

Yup.

Totally rhetorical question.

I've not had any experiences like that. Ever. *snicker*

Pass me another piece of baklava. 

There is one flavor profile that you find in baklava that I've never been fond of: Flowers. Traditionally, baklava is spritzed with rosewater during the piling of layers. I don't care for rosewater, so I left it out. If you like it, use it. If you can't find it in the store / would rather smell flowers than eat them, leave it out.

Start of with nuts. Lots of nuts. 18 oz of various nuts. I chose pistachios (9 oz), hazelnuts (6 oz), and almonds (3 oz). If you want walnuts instead of hazelnuts, sub away. If you want more almonds, sub away.

 

Mix the chopped nuts with sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. 

Melt your butter. If you've got clarified butter laying around, great. Use that. If you don't, just use regular, unsalted butter. 

Brush a rimmed 9x13 sheet pan with butter. 

Now, follow my easy pictoral instructions:

After the 6 sheets, add another 1/3 of the nut mixture. Layer & butter 6 more sheets. Add the last 1/3. Layer & butter the rest of the filo sheets you've got. 

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and cut into squares. Or triangles. Whatever shape you want. Bake for another 40 minutes. 

Pull out your pan and allow to rest for 2 hours. In the last 30 minutes of the 2 hours, start the syrup.Sugar, water, honey, cinnamon stick, and orange peel. 

Boil for 10 minutes, till thick. Pour over baklava. 

Let the baklava sit overnight. If you can make it that long!

Baklava

Makes 1 sheet pan full
Slightly adapted from Alton Brown

For baklava:

1 box filo dough

18 oz nuts (combination of pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds)

2/3 c. sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp allspice

3 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

For syrup:

1 1/4 c. water

1 1/4 c. sugar

1 1/4 c. honey

1 cinnamon stick

1 large chunk of orange peel, pith scraped off

Coarsely chop the nuts. Combine nuts with sugar and spices in a large bowl. 

Using a pastry brush, coat the bottom and sides of a 9x13 sheet pan with melted butter. Lay one sheet of filo down. Butter the top of the filo. Add another layer. Butter. Repeat until you have 8 layers. 

Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on the buttered filo. Spritz with water. Top with a layer of filo, butter, and filo, and butter, repeat until you have 6 layers. Top with another 1/3 of the nuts, 6 more layers of filo and butter, and another 1/3 of the nuts. Build the butter and filo layers until you run out. 

Put in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, take it out and cut it, then bake for another 40.

Allow to cool for 2 hours. In the last 30 minutes, start the syrup.

In a medium saucepan, combine all the syrup ingredients. Bring to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes. 

Pour the hot syrup over the baklava and let sit, uncovered, for 8 hours, or overnight.