My Mother’s Baklava - Simply Magic
As with so many of my mom's recipes, when you get them they look like this.
This is one of my favorite sweets on the planet. Once Greg and I sailed our way through Greece trying baklava at every port taste-testing our way through blue seas. Truth be told, nothing compared to this recipe from my mom, which I’ve made tradition in our household.
Women of her and her mom’s generation used a recipe as a guidepost, not a bible. She’d add a pinch here, tinker there, and make the recipe her own. What I inherited from her cookbook is her writing, indelibly representing her and bringing her back every time I make one of her dishes while having to decipher exactly how to make this dish. So you’ll see I’ve given it my best interpretation, and if you have any challenges just reach out at anthea@antheas.com. Tradition has it that these are served at Easter after a long 40-day fast or on special occasions such as Christmas and birthdays. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 lb frozen phyllo dough, also known as pastry sheets. (Thaw in refrigerator in their plastic until ready to use.)
3 cups shelled walnuts chopped
1 cup blanched almonds chopped
2 lbs butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Make sure the walnuts and almonds are chopped or coarsely ground. Add the cinnamon and the sugar and make sure they are thoroughly mixed.
Remove the phyllo from its plastic and lay it out on a damp dish towel that is covered with saran wrap. Add the stack of phyllo, and then another layer of saran wrap covered by another dish towel. This is to keep the dough moist, free of drying and cracking, while you’re working with it. Have it alongside you on the kitchen counter or prep area with the bowl of mixed nuts.
Melt the butter, draw the salt (I always leave a little for flavor). Take a 10" x 14" baking pan and lay out a pastry sheet or two, brush with the butter, lay out another sheet and brush with butter, and repeat seven or eight times so you have a nice bottom layer built up.
Then add a very thin layer of the nut mixture. Add a pastry sheet and then brush with butter. Add another thin layer of the nut mixture followed by another pastry sheet and brush with butter. Repeat this process until all the nuts are used and you are now near the top of the baking pan. End with another seven or eight sheets of dough laid out, brushed with butter, repeating until you have another nice topping of sheets similar to what you started with on the bottom of the pan.
Take a very sharp knife and cut the baklava into diamond shapes or as you see here in the picture. Pour the remaining butter over the pastry.
Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes, then at 350°F for another 30 minutes or until golden brown. When browned to desired shade, cover with aluminum foil if necessary, to avoid further browning. Remove from oven and pour syrup mixture over the dish.
Let cool.
Syrup Mixture
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup water
Slice of lemon
Cinnamon stick
While pastry is baking, boil water and sugar with a slice of lemon and a cinnamon stick and stir gently until it forms a thin syrup. Stir in the honey and cool. Spoon cool syrup over hot pastry and let sit on the stove or baking sheet to cool.
Remove slices in the shape they’ve been cut, and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or serve solo and have a wonderful time. Baklava can remain fresh for several days covered with Saran Wrap and stored in a cool dry place. I don’t ever refrigerate.