Opa!! It’s Baklava!! One of my favorite dessert in the world!!! INTERNATIONAL month is visiting the blue waters of Greece!!!
Oh Baklava!! I can eat 3 of them in 1 sitting!! That’s how much I love them!!! It’s the perfect combination of sweetness of honey, crispy layers of phyllo, and the crunch of the walnut. I bet your mouth is watering right now!!
Here are 5 interesting facts of Greece!!
- The first modern Olympic Games was held in Athens, Greece!! The events was running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian.
- Ikaria is an island in Greek that is one of Blue Zone city in the world. What is a blue zone? Blue zone is the place with the healthiest people in the world. They live to be 100!!
- Greece has the longest National Anthem in the world. It has 158 verses but they only recognize the first 2 verses.
- Plate throwing that we saw at “Big Fat Greek Wedding” is not common anymore. Now, they throw flowers!!
- Lunch starts at 1:30 pm and dinner starts after 9. I would faint!! But maybe if I had 1 or 2 Baklava for snack, I wouldn’t be so hungry!
Soooo … Is it easy? Yes! Does it take a long time to make? Yes!! You have 40 layers of phyllo to butter!! But it will be totally worth it once you bite into it!! There are 3 different part to make a Baklava. The first thing to make is the honey mixture. This wonderful, sweet and delicious mixture is what makes Baklava, Mmmm .. mmm .. good!! The second part is the nut mixture. You want to prepare this as you are thawing the phyllo at room temperature. The third part and the part that gives you the crunch, is the phyllo. Now you want to thaw this properly. Thaw it completely in the refrigerator (You will find it in the freezer) and put it at room temperature for 1 hour before you bake.
The first thing to do is butter the inside of a 9X13 baking dish. From now on, it’s always phyllo followed by butter. So phyllo….
then butter. Repeat this phyllo-butter combination to make 10 layers. I call this the “10 layer phyllo-butter step”.
Then spread 3/4 cup of the nut mixture on top.
Top it with a layer of phyllo then butter. Repeat this step to make 5 phyllo-butter layers.
Then spread the walnut. Repeat the “5 layer phyllo-butter step” 3 more times, with nut mixture in between.
Then top it off with “10 layer phyllo-butter step”.
With a sharp knife, cut the Baklava all the way through to make a criss cross pattern.
Imma dancin’!!!! I’m so happy to see it and it’s not even done yet!!
Bake it for 1 hour 15 minutes until the top is brown. Take it out of the oven and pour (I like to spoon it to make it even) the syrup on top.
Oh!!! Looking at this makes me want to do the Sirtaki!!!
Enjoy 1 or 2 or maybe 3 of this wonderful dessert!!
Happy Baking !!
| Servings |
30 pieces
|
- 1 lb walnuts finely chopped (about 4 cups)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 16 oz phyllo dough
- 2 cups butter melted
- 16 oz phyllo dough thawed by package instructions
- 1 1/4 oz cups unsalted butter 10or 2 1/2 sticks melted
Ingredients
Walnut mixture
Phyllo layers
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|
- In a saucepan, mix together sugar, water and honey. Boil until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce the heat to medium low and boil for another 4 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool
- Pulse walnut until it's chopped into small pieces but not powdered. You want to have some crunch. Pour into a medium bowl and mix it with cinnamon.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Thaw phyllo dough by package instructions (Thaw in the fridge overnight, then set it at room temperature about 1 hour before baking)
- Trim phyllo dough to fit your baking dish.
- Butter the bottom and sides of a 13x9 non-stick baking pan.
- Place 1 layer of phyllo in it and brush with butter. From now on, the step is always Phyllo then butter.
- Repeat this phyllo-butter combination to make 10 layers. I call this the "10 layer phyllo-butter step".
- Then spread 3/4 cup of the nut mixture on top.
- Top it with a layer of phyllo then butter. Repeat this step to make 5 phyllo-butter layers.
- Then spread the walnut. Repeat the "5 layer phyllo-butter step" 3 more times, with nut mixture in between.
- Then top it off with "10 layer phyllo-butter step".
- With a sharp knife, cut the Baklava all the way through to make a criss cross pattern.
- Bake it for 1 hour 15 minutes until the top is brown. Take it out of the oven and pour (I like to spoon it to make it even) the syrup on top. Let it sit at room temperature for 4 hours or overnight so the honey syrup can penetrate.
Adapted from : Natasha's Kitchen
