Baklava

 Way back when, in 1991 when I lived in Connecticut, I went to a Greek festival at one of the local churches.  There were all sorts goodies on sale, including a cookbook of recipes from church members.  There are three different recipes for baklava in that book, each of them somewhat different.  I, of course, modified it further to give my own spin on the recipe.

Baklava isn't difficult so long as you buy the filo dough (and who wouldn't) and are fine with the mess.  It's also looks great when it's plated, especially if you fuss a little to make it into a star.

Base:

1 lb filo dough
1 lb unsalted butter 
1 lb chopped walnuts
5 T sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Syrup:

1 1/2 c sugar
Juice of one lemon and then add water to bring liquid to 3/4 cups total

Mix the nuts, sugar, and cinnamon for the base.  Melt the butter. Clarify it for best results or don't if you're feeling lazy - no one is really going to complain.  Put some of the butter in a 13 x 9 pan and build the base of layers of filo brushed with butter.  After about five or six large sheets (10-12 layers), sprinkle about half the nut mixture on the layers.  Continue to layer sheets and do a second nut layer.  Layer the rest of the sheets.  Cut the baklava into strips and then the traditional diamond shapes.  Heat up any remaining butter and pour the hot butter evenly over the surface.  Bake at 350 for approximately 30-40 minutes.

While it's baking, make the syrup.  Mix the syrup ingredients in a pan and heat to boiling, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Allow to cool.  

Pour the cooled syrup over the hot baklava as soon as it is removed from the oven.

Some thoughts:

Throw the lemon peel into the syrup for additional lemon flavor if you're so inclined.  If you like lots of cinnamon, add a cinnamon stick.  Clove?  Toss a couple of those in.  Want to make it with honey? Look up a recipe that uses honey instead of sugar.

One of the recipes has a baking option that can drive out even more moisture.  After the first 30 minutes of baking, drop the temperature to 200 and continue to bake for about an hour.