Baklava

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• 1 lb walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups butter, melted
• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough, thawed
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, finely shredded
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 inches cinnamon sticks

Recipe

• 1 for filling, stir together walnuts, ½ cup sugar and the cinnamon in a mixing bowl. set aside.
• 2 preheat oven to 325°f.
• 3 brush a 15x10x1 -inch baking pan (i use a cookie sheet) with some of the melted butter.
• 4 unfold phyllo dough. keep phyllo covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel, removing sheets as you need them. contact with air makes the phyllo sheets brittle.
• 5 layer 10 of the phyllo sheets in the pan, generously brushing each sheet with melted butter as you layer. if any sheet breaks or tears, don't sweat it - you won't see it in the final results. just try to keet the layers even and the top layers intact.
• 6 sprinkle 1/3 of the filling on top of the phyllo.
• 7 repeat layering and filling steps two more times (using 9 sheets for each of the middle layers).
• 8 layer remaining phyllo (12 sheets) on the final filling layer, brushing each sheet with butter before adding the next sheet. drizzle top phyllo sheet with remaining butter.
• 9 trim edges to fit pan if necessary (i don't).
• 10 using a sharp knife, cut through all the layers to make elongated diamond shaped pieces. try to avoid cutting through to the bottom layer.
• 11 bake for 45 minutes or until golden.
• 12 cool in pan on a wire rack.
• 13 meanwhile, for the syrup, bring the remaining 1½ cups sugar, 1 cup water, honey, lemon peel, lemon juice, and stick cinnamon just to boiling in a medium saucepan.
• 14 reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes.
• 15 remove cinnamon.
• 16 pour hot mixture over cooled baklava (see note below).
• 17 cut along pre-made marks and sprinkle chopped walnuts on the top.
• 18 note #1: baklava will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days, but i find that the walnuts in the filling tend to go rancid rather quickly. if they won't be eaten right away, it's best to freeze them.
• 19 to freeze - flash freeze individual pieces on a cookie sheet. when frozen, pack into a ziplock bag and store in the freezer. thaw on the counter until soft before serving.
• 20 note #2: i use the athens brand of phyllo sheets, so there are 40 9"x14" sheets. if you're using these sheets, there may be too much syrup so use only about 3/4th of the recipe.
• 21 note #3: if you're using the old kind, bigger sheets the quantity of syrup the recipe makes is probably needed. you're also going to have fewer sheets so layer accordingly.