INGREDIENTSSimple Syrup - 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Filling - 2 cups pecans
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 lightly beaten egg
- 16 sheets (13 x 9 inch) frozen phyllo dough
- ¼ cup sweet cream butter
METHOD
- Day One:
The night before assembling the baklava, remove the package of phyllo
dough from the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours
or overnight. Also prepare the syrup the night before, keeping in mind
that the next day, the pastry should be allowed to soak up the syrup
several hours before serving.
- To
prepare the syrup, combine all ingredients in a small, heavy saucepan.
For the spices, use a lemon zester for fresh ginger, and a small coffee
or spice grinder to grind whole cloves. Bring all the ingredients to a
boil, and continue boiling for 1 minutes while stirring constantly so
that the sugars do not crystalize.
- Remove the pan from the heat and cool the syrup completely. Cover and store at room temperature until ready to use.
- Day
Two: Allow the phyllo dough to sit at room temperature (in the box and
in the plastic wrap) two hours before preparing the baklava.
- Preheat
oven to 350°F and butter a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. To prepare the
filling, place pecans, chocolate chips, raisins, sugar, and cinnamon in
a food processor. Pulse until combined. Transfer to a medium bowl and
stir in egg. Set aside.
- On the stove top, melt butter in a small saucepan.
- Unwrap
and place the stack of phyllo sheets on a smooth work surface. Place
filling, melted butter, and a pastry brush near the work area, as the
baklava needs to be assembled relatively quickly otherwise the phyllo
sheets will dry out.
- Place
baking dish on top of stacked phyllo sheets and trim stacked sheets so
that they will fit perfectly into the pan, then set pan aside. Use a
pastry brush to brush the top phyllo sheet with butter. Carefully place
into pan.
- Brush the
new top phyllo sheet with butter and place atop the first in the pan.
Repeat this step 8 more times until there are 10 buttered layers of
phyllo dough in the pan.
- Spread
half the filling over the 10 layers. Top with buttered phyllo sheets
one at a time just as with the base layer, except this time stack only 4
layers. Atop the fourth sheet, spread the remaining filling. Top with two more
buttered phyllo sheets.
- Cut
through all the layers into squares (or triangles, or diamonds, or any
other shape you like) and bake for approximately 35 minutes, until
golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, and then begin drizzling
the simple syrup over the baklava. Wait several minutes between each
drizzling, allowing the syrup to soak in, and drizzling over the edges
of each square, using the remainder of the syrup.
- Use
a dab of syrup to attach a pecan half on the top of each piece. Allow
baklava to sit for several hours (or a day) at room temperature before
serving.
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