A colleague of mine who frequently traveled to Turkey would always bring her favorite Baklava back for us. I decided to try making it myself as a special treat at Christmas. This was pretty good for a first attempt, although maybe not quite as delicious as her Turkish ones. But they turned out better than expected, so I was happy with the result. I will warn that buttering 40 individual sheets of phyllo dough was pretty time-consuming.
Baklava
Makes ~30 pieces
Ingredients:
16 oz phyllo dough sheets, thawed (~40 sheets)
1&1/4 cups unsalted butter, melted (2&1/2 sticks)
1 lb walnuts, finely chopped or ground (~4 cups)
1/2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup honey
Directions:
Honey Syrup:
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, lemon juice, water, and honey. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar is fully dissolved. Reduce heat to low and boil an additional 4 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and let cool while preparing the baklava.
Baklava:
Bring phyllo sheets to room temperature and trim if needed (I needed to trim about 1 inch off one end to make it fit in my 9x13 pan). Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking pan.
In a medium bowl, combine finely chopped/pulsed walnuts and cinnamon.
Place 1 phyllo sheet into the buttered pan and brush with melted butter. Repeat 9 more times. Evenly spread about 1/5 of nut mixture over top. Add 5 sheets of phyllo, brushing each sheet with butter as you lay it in the pan. Spread another 1/5 nut mixture over top. Repeat with 5 sheets of phyllo and 1/5 nuts 3 more times. The final layer will be 10 sheets of phyllo, each individually buttered.
While in the pan, cut Baklava into 1&1/2-inch strips, then cut diagonally to form diamond shapes. Bake at 325ºF for 75 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
Remove from oven and immediately spoon cooled syrup all over the hot baklava. Let baklava cool completely at room temperature. Let sit 4-6 hours or overnight to let the syrup seep through all the layers. May keep covered at room temp for 1-2 weeks.
