We are learning about Greece ( Daddy says why didn’t we work on the car?). We made Greek soup. It is on Andrea’s blog.
We made Baklava because it is a Greek desert and Momma (and Andrea and I and…) like it.
Baklava
(16 ounce) package phyllo dough- 1 pound chopped nuts, we used walnuts.
- 1 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup honey
- It seemed like a LOT for 7 people, so half way through we decided to half this recipe. We still made a 9 x 13 inch pan, but made it thinner. We used most of the nuts though 🙂 Next time we will use a square pan. ( Or I would invite some friends over.)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9×13 inch pan.
- Chop walnuts and stir in cinnamon. Set aside.
- To keep phyllo dough from drying out, keep it wrapped once you take it out of the package. Cut to fit pan if needed. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter lightly, you don’t want to soak it, but just cover it. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Don’t bother making the sheets smooth, the more crinkles the better.
- Sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Add two sheets of dough, butter them, add more nuts, and continue until phyllo dough is almost gone. Make top layer about 6 – 8 sheets deep.
- Cut into diamond or square shapes most of the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake for 50 minutes until lightly brown and crisp.
- Start boiling sugar and water 20 minutes after Baklava is in oven. Boil until sugar is melted, then stir in vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Remove Baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool before devouring. Do NOT cover until completely cool or it might get soggy. Yuck! OR don’t bother saving any, just EAT IT ALL!!!!!!!!