Trader joe's heroic baklava
14 Servings
Ingredients
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
| 350 | grams | Roasted; unsalted walnuts coarsely chopped |
| 200 | grams | Sugar |
| 1½ | teaspoon | Ground cinnamon |
| ½ | teaspoon | Ground cloves |
| 225 | millilitres | Honey |
| 170 | millilitres | Water |
| 55 | millilitres | Sugar |
| 30 | millilitres | Lemon juice |
| 1 | small | Piece lemon peel |
| 1 | small | Piece orange peel |
| 1 | 2-1/2-cm piece cinnamon stick | |
| 450 | grams | Filo dough |
| 225 | grams | 'natural' margarine |
| Nut filling - see above | ||
| Syrup - see above | ||
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients. .SH SYRUP: 1. Combine all of the above in a saucepan, and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Let cool. Discard peels and cinnamon. .SH BAKLAVA: 1. Unwrap filo dough and fold in half, like the pages of a book. Keep covered with a dry kitchen towel while working (or just work fast). Turn over one sheet onto 25x38 cm cookie sheet. Brush with melted margarine, using soft 4-5 cm brush or fingertips.
2. Continue turning sheets (pages) and brushing with margarine until ⅓ of the sheets have been used. Cover with half of the nut filling.
3. Brush another ⅓ of the pages and place over the nuts in the pan. Top with remaining nut filling, and then continue with the remaining sheets of filo dough. Brush top sheet with remaining margarine.
4. With sharp knife, score pastry into diamonds, squares, or triangles.
Bake at 180øC for 35-45 minutes until puffed, crisp, and deep golden in color.
5. Remove from oven and immediately pour cooled Syrup over baklava. Let stand 4 hours. (That's what the recipe says, but I've never been able to do it). When cool, cut through to the bottom layer in scored cuts.
Difficulty : moderate/fiddly. Precision : measure ingredients.
Recipe by: Brett Garrett bgarrett@...
Posted to JEWISH-FOOD digest Volume 98 #015 by lisamontag@... (Lisa Montag) on Jan 8, 1998