Bad Day Baklava

“Don’t you go wastin’ all your money on syrup and honey, because I’m sweet enough.”

-       Duffy

So, last night was a bit of a rough night for me. I’m in a show right now and getting home late after rehearsal always proves to be a bit challenging for me in the “eat healthy” department. Generally, I do pretty well and make sure I don’t run through the kitchen grabbing everything in sight, but yesterday I realized I hadn’t gone food shopping in a while and just started noshing on literally anything I could get my hands on.

While I didn’t feel totally perfect post “eat-for-all,” I did remind myself that it’s not the end of the world, and that when we’re tired, or stressed, or just generally out of it, we tend to go towards food for comfort. So, yes, my stress may have sent me directly towards an exorbitant amount of roasted almonds and crackers, but, hey, that is absolutely not the end of the world. And while I could’ve started freaking out about how I’d suddenly started down the path of no return, I reminded myself that if I stopped eating all the almonds I could use them, I could use my temptation, in a recipe to give my next day a certain sweetness that the previous one lacked.

So, without further ado here is baklava recipe created by none other than Emeril Lagasse (who I secretly have a huge crush on and fall more and more in love with every time he says the word “BAM!”)

Enjoy!

BAKLAVA

Ingredients

For the Syrup:

•    1 cup sugar

•    1 cup honey

•    3/4 cup water

•    1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

•    2 cinnamon sticks

•    1 (1-inch) strip lemon zest

•    Pinch ground cloves

•    Pinch ground cardamom

For the filling and dough:

•    1 pound walnuts, or a combination of walnuts, pistachios and almonds

•    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

•    1/4 teaspoon salt

•    2 sticks unsalted butter

•    1 pound phyllo, thawed according to package instructions*

Directions

To make the syrup: Combine the sugar, honey, water, lemon juice, cinnamon sticks, lemon zest, cloves and cardamom in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the syrup is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon sticks and lemon zest and set syrup aside to cool.

Using a Chef's knife, finely chop the nuts. (Alternatively, if you have a food processor, pulse the nuts until finely chopped.) In a medium mixing bowl, combine the nuts, cinnamon, and salt and stir well to combine.

Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan.

Using a pastry brush, lightly coat a 13 by 9-inch or 15 by 10-inch baking dish with some of the melted butter.

Open the package of thawed phyllo and lay the thin sheets on a clean work surface. Measure the phyllo sheets; if the type you have purchased measures approximately the same size as the baking dish you are using, then proceed from here. If they are larger than your baking dish, use a sharp knife to cut the phyllo sheets approximately the same size as your baking dish. Discard any scraps. Cover the sheets with a piece of plastic wrap and a lightly damp kitchen towel, as the sheets of phyllo dry out very quickly if left uncovered.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 of the sheets of phyllo in the bottom of the buttered baking dish and lightly brush with some of the melted butter. Repeat this procedure with 6 more sheets of phyllo, for a total of 7 layers. Measure about 3/4 cup of the nut mixture and spread the nut mixture evenly over the buttered phyllo sheets. Repeat with 7 more sheets of phyllo, buttering each layer as before, and top these sheets with another 3/4 cup of the nut mixture. Continue this layering process, buttering 7 sheets of phyllo and topping each 7 sheets with 3/4 cup of the nuts, until you have used all of the nut mixture. Layer any remaining sheets of phyllo on top, buttering between each layer, until all of the phyllo sheets have been used.

Use a sharp knife to make 4 cuts lengthwise through the layered phyllo at 1 1/2 inch intervals. (You should end up with 5 lengthwise strips 1 1/2 inches wide.) Now use your knife to cut diagonally across the strips at 1 1/2-inch intervals to form diamond shapes. You should end up with approximately 36 diamond-shaped pieces of baklava in the baking dish.

Bake the baklava until golden brown, about 40 minutes.

Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the baklava from the oven and set aside on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Using a ladle or small measuring cup, slowly drizzle the cooled syrup over the warm baklava. Allow to stand several hours before serving.

One great thing about this recipe? Before you even taste it you know it’s going to be good, because your home/apartment/cardboard box/whatever, will smell INCREDIBLE! The mixture on the stove becoming that light syrup, and the butter puffing out with the phyllo around the cinnamon-infused nuts, is actually an amazing scent experience!

Also, once the baklava has cooled, it looks so awesome as it’s soaking up the syrup you’re pouring on top! It seeps through the cracks within the baklava itself and then wells up at the top, creating these honey and sugar rivers! It’s hard to not just grab some right now, but you want to give it time to really have the flavors fuse together!

CUT TO AFTER SERVING

Wow, this stuff went fast…and a lot of it went really fast to me! So flakey, so crunchy, so gooey, so sweet, I was literally in taste-bud heaven! I mean, honestly, though, when does copious amounts of butter, sugar and honey ever feel wrong?

*A note on phyllo dough. It sucks. ‘Nuff said. But, actually, it can be really annoying to work with. It does dry out quickly, but when you put a damp towel over it, it can then stick to the cloth, which causes tears in the dough. Luckily, there is no need to panic. It’s okay if the dough rips, and it’s okay if it gets a little dry. Just make sure that you at least line the pieces up to create a flat-ish surface in the pan before going over it with the melted butter.