- 15 mins
Ingredients
- Syrup:
- 1 C. unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 C. almonds toasted and ground
- 1 C. walnuts toasted and ground
- 1 C. pecans toasted and ground
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 3/4 C. superfine sugar (or use regular and put in blender or food processor to make it fine)
- 1 lb. filo dough
- 1 1/2 C. water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/4 tsp. lemon or orange peel (or you can use a piece of fresh orange rind)
- 1 1/2 Tbs. honey
Preparation
Step 1
Melt butter, set aside. Mix nuts in a bowl with cinnamon and sugar. Brush 10x14 (or bigger just not smaller) cookie sheet with butter. Line cookie sheet with one sheet of filo. I don't use the whole cookie sheet because it makes so much. I usually make it the size of a sheet of filo. Brush dough with melted butter and add another layer of filo. Repeat with 8 more filo sheets.
Sprinkle the nut mixture generously over the filo. Continue the layering of filo pastry using 3 sheets of filo to one layer of nuts. Brush each sheet with butter and layer until nuts are used up. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Top with 8 sheets of filo making sure the top sheet is well buttered. Score the top lengthwise in parallel strips.
Start the syrup. Combine ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Leave to cool before use. Bake baklava for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for another hour. Pour cold syrup over baklava and cut into diamond shapes (in that order). After the baklava cools I always store in the refrigerator.