Baklava

Just used store bought phyllo dough in the freezer section. Remember to leave time to thaw the phyllo, either overnight in fridge or 2 hours at room temp! 

This is a simple recipe to make baklava using phyllo dough and it’s delicious! You can find phyllo dough in the freezer section. When you use it, make sure that you keep the phyllo dough moist. Next time, might bake at 325 instead of 350, and might add some lemon zest. I made this the night before, left it uncovered because I heard it might get soggy if covered. It was still quite good the next day and top phyllo dough layer still crisp!

Important note about phyllo- remember to thaw overnight or leave it at room temperature for 2 hours before use! Forgot about that so had to use the dough slightly frozen. Was still ok, but after you lay it out, you can't tell if the phyllo dough was broken up. 

Update: I forgot to thaw the phyllo dough overnight so I took it out of the box but still in the plastic wrap and microwaved it for 30-35 seconds and it worked to quickly thaw the pastry. Just need to be careful about unwrapping it. I also was short on time and I started the syrup after putting the baklava in the oven. 

Here's what I did:
1) Make syrup first (in pan, combine 1.5 cups water, 1.5 cups of sugar plus 3/4 cups of sugar first, and then add 1.5 teaspoons vanilla. Then simmer for 20 min. Place in fridge when done to cool)
2) Grease pan with cooking spray
4) Mix 1 pound of walnuts and 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I ended up needing a little more walnuts than 1 pound)
5) Layer 8 sheets of phyllo dough at the bottom. For every 2 sheets, spray with cooking spray. 
6) Top with layer of walnuts+cinnamon
7) Repeat steps 5 and 6 two more times so end you will have 3 layers of phyllo (8 sheets each, and sprayed with cooking spray for every 2 sheets) and walnuts
8) Finish with 8 layers of phyllo dough at the top
9) Cut into squares or diamonds with sharp knife
10) Bake for 45 min at 350.
11) When done baking, immediately top with syrup.

My edits/notes: in red

Baklava (~from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts (used walnuts and a little over 1 pound)
• 1 cup butter (ended up using cooking spray as well)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water (used 1.5 c water)
• 1 cup white sugar (used 1.5 c sugar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (used 1.5 tsp vanilla)
• 1/2 cup honey (used ¾ c sugar)

Directions

1.     Made the syrup first and then let it cool in the fridge. Read somewhere that when you pour cool syrup on the hot pastry, it helps to still maintain the crunchiness of the pastry. I made 1.5 times the syrup.

2.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.  I baked at 325 for 50 min, but that’s because my oven is super strong!

3.     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. You don’t need to cut in half. I bought Athens phyllo dough, which is already the size of a 9x13 sheet. I didn’t need to keep a dampened cloth on it either. When I ran out of butter, I just spread every 2 sheets with cooking spray. I ended up making 3 layers of nuts.

4.     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.  I cut them into squares.

5.     Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Like I said before, I made this first and let it cool.

6.     Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.