...baklava. I used this recipe that I found through Tastespotting. I made a few slight changes, though. First of all, I halved the recipe and put it in an 8X8 pan. Also, I put less sugar in the syrup and more honey. I love honey.
Okay, I'll explain the process. First you make a syrup out of water, sugar, honey, rose water (I used hibiscus tea because what was I going to do with the rest of the rose water if I bought some and only used one teaspoon for this recipe?), and lemon. It was a little too lemony for me -- I would recommend halving the lemon juice.
Then you make the filling -- nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Or whatever you want to put in. Let loose! I didn't have any walnuts and I didn't feel like going to the store. So I used hazelnuts.
They were good, but I think it would have been better if I had toasted them a bit. They were a little chewy for my taste. Maybe I just should have cut them up finer? Flavor-wise they worked well, though. Also, I know it's a minor sin, but I did not clarify the butter. That was just laziness.
Anyway, then you butter all the layers of phyllo, put in the filling, butter more phyllo....
Ideally, you would have a phyllo buddy. Someone to uncover it, hand you a piece, and then quick! cover it back up. It dries out pretty easily, and the longer it's exposed the more it sticks to itself. Basically you just have to embrace the fact that it will rip and not be beautiful. It really doesn't matter. It will still be delicious.
When I finished putting it all together, I had some extra butter. I poured it over the top. More butter is always better, right?
The recipe I used called or 75 minutes of baking, but I baked mine for an hour and that was definitely enough. The last part is fun -- you take it out of the oven and immediately pour the room temperature syrup over it. The syrup sizzles and steams and it smells phenomenal. Then cover it with foil and let it soak in and get really delicious. Let it sit for as long as you can stand... which for me was not very long.
But honestly, I think it's better the next day, when all the flavors have had a chance to fully meld and the syrup has been absorbed. Divine.
well done. i would like to think that i somehow played a small part in your choosing to cook and blog about this. to cookblog this in other words.
ReplyDeletelooks delish though, in all seriousness, which is good because otherwise it wouldn't live up to blogs namesake. i told some turkish people i met in the supermarket today that you had cooked baklava, and they were mightily impressed. mainly because nobody really knows how to cook that stuff, it's usually just bought or ordered.
also, nice closeup shots and profile pic :)
-austin
If it makes you feel better, okay, you had something to do with it. (But actually it's that I made spanikopita and had half a package of phyllo left.)
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