Since people ask for my baklava recipe I thought I would post it here to make it easier to share. Remember I’ll need to have a sample to confirm that you have made it correctly. Several pieces actually would be nice.

This version uses honey rather than a sugar syrup, so differs from many of the other baklava recipes that I’ve tried.  Both are good, but I just tend to like this version.

Tools:

8″ x 12″ baking pan
Pastry brush (or I guess you could use a good paint brush (without paint))

Ingredients (most amounts are approximate):

2 lb (2 boxes) Filo dough (in the freezer or dairy section of your supermarket)
1/2 lb butter (226 g)
3 cups chopped walnuts
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup honey (somewhere between 1 and 2 cups should be fine)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C)
2. Defrost the filo dough according to directions. If you don’t do this and are working with frozen filo dough, you will not be happy.
3. Melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave. Melt additional butter as required.
4. Brush the bottom of the pan with the butter.
5. Lay down a single sheet of filo dough on the bottom of the pan and brush the top with melted butter.
6. Continue laying down more filo sheets (buttering the tops every layer) until you have about 6-8 layers. Don’t worry if the filo breaks into pieces smaller than full sheets. Just patch a layer together from small sheets.
7. Combine the chopped nuts, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, and nutmeg in a bowl. Spread about 1/4 of the mixture over the filo dough. Make sure you have spread the mixture evenly (don’t forget the edges and corners)
8. Lay down another 4-6 sheets of filo (buttering each layer).
9. Lay down 1/4 of the chopped nuts mixture.
10. Lay down another 4-6 sheets of filo (buttering each layer).
    Lay down 1/4 of the chopped nuts mixture.
11. Lay down another 4-6 sheets of filo (buttering each layer).
    Lay down remaining 1/4 of the chopped nuts mixture.
12. Lay down remaining filo sheets (do the math ahead of time if it makes you happy, you need about 5 layers, with the top and bottom layer thicker than the in between layers). Butter between sheets.
13. Butter the top of the filo with remaining butter.
14. Cut the filo (before baking) into whatever shapes you want (typically diamond or triangle shapes). Make sure you cut all the way through to the bottom.
15. Bake for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour at 350F (180C).
16. Immediately after removing baklava from oven pour honey over the top while hot. Make sure to cover baklava completely with honey.
17. Let cool and serve.