Baklava

Week 17

This week's host was Talesha she choose Baklava on page 435 & 436 in our book.

Baklava, the Greek desert. Yes, I have had it before. My husband and I used to attend the Greek Festival every year in down town Salt Lake City. It was fun but the tradition died out when kids came along. We mostly went for the food and Baklava was are favorite of the deserts. None the less it was intriguing to see how it was actually made.

This is the only recipe so far in our book in which they had us buy pr-made dough. (Called phyllo dough.) When I saw how thin and delicate the pastry sheet was it was good we weren't making it. That would be difficult. Now that I said it would be difficult, there is a recipe for homemade phyllo dough if your interested in perusing that path. It does say it's pretty easy, so maybe I am wrong.

There are two kinds of yummy nuts used in this recipe (almonds and walnuts) and I didn't buy enough sliced almonds so I added extra walnuts. Don't think it changed the taste at all, but didn't have anything to compare it with.

All in all it was pretty straight forward to make. The assembly line of phyllo and nuts was a long process and not very fun. Probably because it took so long and was tedious. It used 30 sheets of phyllo and butter was spread in between each one. But after it went in the oven I really enjoyed the smell of all the spices as it baked. It made my house smell so good! (cinnamon, cloves, nuts, and, of course, butter)

Finished result. It's a pretty looking pastry even though it has little color. The textures and shades give it a great eye appeal.

They were very good. My favorite part was the flavor of the spices. Personally it could of used less butter because it droned out the spices a little and made it a bit soggy.

A Tip & A Question:

1. Great to make ahead because they keep for 10 days at room temperature!
2. N/A