SanguineWolf's Blog
:
September 2016
Linda Lee's Baklava Recipe
POSTED ON
09/23/16
Linda Lee’s Almond-Walnut Baklava
My recipe is based on both a walnut baklava and a almond baklava recipe. I didn't completely like either recipe, so I have combined the ingredients I do like into my own recipe. We enjoy the result. I hope you and your friends and family like it, too.
Please bear with me, I do not have either bag of the nuts to be able to tell you how many ounces were in each bag. But, I am guessing about 12-16 ounces each. When I make my recipe, I use equal parts walnuts to almonds to equal the required 3-1/2 cups of nuts (approximately 1-1/3 pounds).
Ingredients:
3-1/2 cup equal portions of broken Walnuts and Sliced Almonds
so that the nuts are ½ Walnut and ½ Almonds when mixed
Zest of one Navel Orange or any sweet orange
1 TBSP ground Cinnamon
½ tsp ground Cloves
2 to 2-1/2 sticks melted Butter
24 - 32 sheets of Fillo dough
1-1/3 lbs. Clover Honey (approximately 1-1/3 cup)
Preheat oven to 350 o F.
Grind the walnuts and almonds together in a food processor or coffee bean grinder. (No chunks.)
Using the finest size of a cheese grater, grate all and only the orange part of the skin of a large sweet orange to only get the orange zest from it (NOT the white part of the skin, the pulp, or the juices).
Using a medium mixing bowl, add the orange zest, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves to the ground nut mixture. Still thoroughly. Set aside.
Prepare baking dish:
Melt the butter. Thoroughly coat the bottom and sides of a 9-13 or 10x15 clear glass baking dish all the way up to the top edges of the dish.
Making the Baklava in layers:
You will need to keep the remainder of the 3/4 lbs. of butter melted for the remainder of the baklava preparation.
I laid out a plastic pie crust sheet to butter the fillo dough. Use whatever best non-stick surface you have. (Do NOT butter the surface or flour the surface.) Try to keep it dry. Keep paper towels handy to wipe your hands.
Note: Each layer of fillo dough involves 8 full sheets of buttered fillo dough. I found that my fillo dough didn’t tear as easily and usually stayed in one piece if I kept the melted butter warm and I slopped it onto the fillo sheets with a pastry brush, but I SPREAD the butter with my hands. It also took less time this way.
If, like me, you don’t have a big 10x15 baking dish, but you do have a 9x13, then make sure the first eight sheets of buttered fillo sheets cover the bottom and the inner sides of the baking dish. This will be eight layers deep.
Spread about 1/3- ½ of the nut mixture evenly across the fillo sheets, but not up the sides. Apply 8 more buttered fillo sheets. If they are too long, just spread the extra part up the sides, and alternate the sides so that it turns out evenly.
Add another layer of nut mixture. If that is the last of your nut mixture, then spread your last 8 layers of buttered fillo sheets over them.
Note: Because my mixture turned out to have extra amount, I put that on top of my 3rd layer of fillo sheets, and then added 6-8 more sheets of buttered fillo to top it off.
Finalizing the baklava fillo edges:
If the edges of the fillo sheets have dried out, just dab hot butter all around the edges with the pastry brush to moisten them. With your fingers, gently fold the edges in so that they lay flat and seal the baklava around the edges of the baking dish.
Now, depending on the size of the baking dish, you will cut either 4 or 5 lengthwise rows, making sure you cut through all layers of the baklava. Afterwards, make diagonal cuts. (This is the traditional baklava cut that I am familiar with by both Greek and Hebrew makers of baklava.) Nearly all of your pieces of baklava will bake up to about 2 x 2 inches in size. Basically, your are aiming for a diamond shape. (We don’t worry over that. Ours were 3 x 1-1/2 inch parallelograms and tasted great.)
Please make sure you cut the baklava before baking it. It’s nearly impossible to cut afterwards.
Place the baklava in the oven on the center rack. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until lightly browned. (We always set the timer for the shortest time required. Our baklava was ready at 45 minutes.)
Remove from oven and pour clover honey over hot Baklava. Allow to stand 12-24 hours before serving to allow the honey to soak in.
(Trick: If you ground your nuts like I do, it only takes about 1-2 hours for the honey to soak through to the bottom of the Baklava.)
After it is ready to serve, scoop out each piece of Baklava into a fluted paper (like for muffins and cupcakes). Depending on the size of your pan and the size you cut your baklava, it will make approximately 28 to 60 pieces.
Keeps in refrigerator for up to one month, and freezes well in air-tight container up to 6 months.
If I missed typing anything clearly, please let me know. Thank you. Enjoy.
Linda Lee
