Making Baklava

The pics are all in the wrong order for whatever reason!The top is the finished product,the 2nd is baklava getting ready to be baked after being cut,the 3rd is a few of the ingriedints, and the last is the filo sheets bubbling after I buttered them.

Saturday was my very first time ever making baklava,and I am proud of the turn out!It's by far one of my favorite holiday treats.This year it will be shipped to a few of my friends and family and hopefully they like it.Here is the recipe I used: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baklava-II/Detail.aspx . I like this site because you can adjust the number of servings you want and it will adjust the recipe portions for you.Now I will give you a few tips and things I noticed while I was in the kitchen:

• Filo/phyllo is like very old paper.Think of it as the report card from 1st grade,if you grab it and your not gently with it it crumples,so keep the filo save under a damp dish towel.Cover it in its entirety.


• Its important that you cut it to fit the cookie sheet you use.As you will see further down I didnt always do that so I ended up with crunchy filo,sticking up from the dessert.Not actually a big deal if this happens;wait till it cools then cut it off.


• As far as nut choping,I first put them in to bags then pounded them with a hammer(alot like I do my grahm cracker crust).6 minutes later I wised up and put them in the blender.Be careful with a blender because it has the capability to give you powdered nuts and not finely chopped which is what we want.


• The syrup that goes over the baklava after its baked,it never really thickened like it was supposed to .I brought it to a boil, let it rest all that jazz,but it never got thick.No worries cause it tastes great.I ended up sprinkling sugar on top in the end anyway.


• The recipe says to bake it @ 350 for 50-60 mins.DO NOT DO THIS unless your oven takes a while to actually heat up.I had mine in for 20 mins and it was done.


• Syrup is to be poured whilst the baklava is still hot.it makes this yummy sizzling sound.


• The top part of the filo was not as flaky as I would have liked it.I only used 2 layers on top,next time I may try 3 may 4 layers.