Andrea Bowen Instagram – Ingredients
1 16 ounce package of phyllo dough
1 cup of butter
1 pound of chopped nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup of honey
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
Step 1:
Defrost phyllo dough. Remove from freezer and transfer to fridge to thaw out for approx. 8 hours. Take your phyllo dough out of the fridge and rest at room temp (still in package) for about 2 hours before using.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2:
Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Remove from heat and add honey, vanilla extract and orange blossom water. *NOTE* You can return to heat after and let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes for a thicker syrup. I did this the first time I made the baklava and liked the thicker consistency.
Step 3:
Chop nuts or throw them in a food processor and then toss with cinnamon. Put nuts aside.
Unroll phyllo dough and cut stack in half to fit the pan you’re using. Keep the phyllo covered with a clean dampened kitchen towel to prevent the phyllo from drying out while you assemble.
Place two sheets of dough in your pan, and use a pastry brush (or whatever you have, could be your fingers!) to butter the top of the dough thoroughly. Repeat this process until you have 8 sheets layered as we want a nice base as the bottom. After the 8 layers, sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of your nut mixture on top. Continue the process with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 – 8 sheets deep (like the bottom) so we have a nice top to our baklava.
Step 4:
Use a sharp knife to cut into pieces. Your pieces can be small, large, squares, diamond shaped – cut it how you like. Bake for approx. 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp and your kitchen smells divine.
Step 5:
When baklava is finished, take out from oven and immediately pour your syrup mixture over it. Let rest and cool. I know it sucks to wait but it gets better the longer you let it sit.
Enjoy!
👩‍🍳 🤌 | Posted on 08/Feb/2021 08:47:08
