Bake 52: Baklava

 You will not find me complaining about having an excuse to make baklava.  If you have been around for a while, you know I already posted a recipe in December.  After tweaking this one, it's pretty similar to that recipe and I didn't really have to tweak that much.  It makes me think if I had this cookbook 3 years ago, it probably wouldn't taken me so many tries to find my perfect baklava.

 I say 'my perfect' because everyone is so different as taste goes.  My perfect might not be yours.  Maybe you like cloves while I really don't like them.  Knowing that about myself, I left them out entirely.  I doubled the cinnamon, added 1/8 tsp allspice and I halved the recipe (baked in an 8x8 pan).

It is a bit time consuming but not really hard.  I haven't clarified butter before but liked the idea of it.  The only problem was I must have been too heavy handed with my butter because I ran out and had to melt another 1/4 cup.  At that point, I was deep into assembly mode and didn't care to take the time to recreate all the steps of clarified butter.  I might have ruined all my clarifying since I tainted it with non-clarified stuff but clarified or not, it was delicious!  (Let's say clarified once more just for kicks)  Next time I will be more careful with that since there is PLENTY of butter to begin with; I am sure it didn't need more.

I cut the phyllo to fit my smaller pan.  I also did 4 layers of nuts instead of three.  I am not positive how many layers of phyllo are between each layer of nuts.  I was having a hard time keeping track.  I blame it on distractions and my scattered brain.

 My nut ratio ended up being half almonds and half walnuts because that's how they were packaged at the store.

 The first time I baked this, I remember thinking that cutting before baking was just plain weird.  The recipe has you press down on the top with your hands to get out air bubbles.  It seemed like that might have made it easier to cut.

 After baking.  I only ended up baking this for about 45 minutes and turned the oven down for the last part.  Maybe because it was smaller, maybe because my oven is out to destroy me.

 Anything that you pour warm sugary syrup over is bound to be good, right?  I haven't sprinkled nuts on the top before, but I really liked that addition.

I was supposed to let it cool for 3 hours and then cover and let sit for 8 hours before serving!  Who can wait that long??  Look at all those flaky delicious layers!  I did notice that the flavors developed more after sitting.  Last night it was less lemony that it was today but I still can't say it's worth an 8 hour wait.

If you have never made baklava before you should give it a try, it's easier than you think and so delicious it's worth it.

If you'd like the recipe, you can get it at Talesha's blog here.  Thanks for hosting this week Talesha and picking such a great recipe!