Baklava

Baklava is one of my favorite desserts. There is also something special to me about making baklava. I used the recipe from " The book of Greek cooking" by Lesley Mackley. Here is the recipe as I am not sure you can find it online. If you like baklava this is a pretty good recipe to use.

Few notes: I still did not find freshly made filo dough here in US but if you can find one it would make a big difference compared to using  a frozen one. If using frozen thaw it overnight in a refrigerator. I also replaced walnuts with pecans in my version just because I love pecans.  Also this recipe is a little bit on a dryer side so if you like your baklava more juicy increase the amount of syrup. And please do not forget to serve this dessert with Greek/Serbian/Turkish coffee!
Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup walnuts
1/3 cup pistachios
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinamon
1/4 cup freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup butter
 8 sheets filo pastry
Syrup:
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange-flower water


Preparation:

To make a syrup in a sauce pan heat sugar, water and lemon juice until sugar dissolves. Boil gently 5 minutes or until syrupy. Add orange flower water and boil 2 minutes. Cool completely. In a food processor process one third of all nuts until finely chopped. Coarsely chop remaining nuts. In a bowl mix together nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Butter a 13"x 9" baking pan. Preheat oven to 350F. In a saucepan melt butter.

Cut dough sheets in half across. Brush one halved sheet with butter and place on a bottom of a roasting pan. Repeat with three more sheets. Spread one-third of nut mixture over the top, then repeat layers twice more ending with the layer of dough. With a sharp knife cut the top layer of dough into diamonds. Bake in oven 30-40 minutes until crisp and golden. Pour cold syrup over the top.When cold trim edges and cut into diamond shapes.