Christmas Baklava

Baklava tastes good, but homemade is always the best. Furthermore, it need not be my house that succeeds. It might belong to anyone. Simply put, I find that compared to many store-bought baklava, homemade baklava seems to have a little more flavor, a little more freshness, and a bit more something subtle.

1. One box of phyllo dough
2. 4 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
3. One teaspoon of cinnamon
4. one and a half sticks of butter
5. 2. honey
6. half a cup water
7. 3 tsp vanilla essence and 1/2 cup sugar

Guidelines

• Take the phyllo dough packet out of the freezer and let it thaw in the refrigerator for a full day. Take out of the refrigerator one hour before use.
• When working with the phyllo dough, just take off the sheets you need right away; cover the remaining sheets with plastic wrap and then a moist cloth.
• Combine the cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Put aside.
• Turn the oven on to 350°F. In a small saucepan, melt half of the stick of butter and grease a rectangular baking pan. Verify that the phyllo sheets will, in general, fit the pan (a little bigger is alright). Simply use a sharp knife to trim them if they’re considerably larger
• Melt the butter and brush the top sheet of phyllo with it, then pick up the unbuttered sheet underneath. Place the two sheets, buttered side down, in the pan. Gently press the mixture into the pan. Do this twice more, resulting in six phyllo sheets in the pan, three of which are buttered.
• Add enough walnuts to the mixture to form a single layer. Put two phyllo sheets with butter on top of the walnuts. Next, add two more greased phyllo sheets and extra walnuts. Repeat until you run out of walnuts, or a couple more times. Place 4 additional greased phyllo sheets on top, then finish with a buttered top. Using a very sharp knife, cut the baklava into a diagonal diamond pattern.
• Bake the baklava for 45 minutes, or until it’s deeply golden brown.
• In a saucepan, mix the remaining stick of butter, honey, water, sugar, and vanilla while the baklava bakes. After bringing to a boil, turn down the heat.
• After taking the baklava out of the oven, evenly pour half of the saucepan over the top. After a minute of letting it soak and absorb, drizzle on some more until you feel like it’s moistened all the way through. There’s probably going to be some residual honey combination, which you can sip with a straw. I’m kidding.
• Let the baklava cool for a few hours without covering it. After they’re cool, sticky, and delicious, carefully take them out of the pan and serve with coffee.