Baklava (from Michael Symon - Cooking Channel)

By zircon50

Ingredients

• 1 pound butter, melted, plus more for greasing
• 8 ounces pistachios, ground
• 8 ounces walnuts, ground
• 1 cup graham crackers, ground
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pound fresh thin phyllo dough
• 3 cups sugar
• One 6 to 8-ounce jar honey
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from cookingchanneltv.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch pan.

Mix together the ground nuts, graham crackers and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread a phyllo sheet in the buttered pan and brush on some more butter with a pastry brush. Put down another sheet and repeat this process with 10 sheets, buttering each sheet. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the nut mixture on top of the 10th sheet.

Layer on 4 more phyllo sheets, buttering each sheet, and top the last sheet with another 1/4 cup of the nut mixture. Repeat with 2 more layers of 4 phyllo sheets and 1/4 cup nut mixture, buttering each sheet. Top with 10 more sheets of buttered phyllo, adding lots of butter to the top of last sheet.

Before baking, cut into diamond shapes with a sawing action using a sharp knife as phyllo is fragile and will tear easily. Bake on the lower rack of the oven until golden brown, 1 hour.

For the syrup: While the baklava is baking, combine the sugar, honey and 1 1/2 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and let cook for 10 to 15 minutes, and then add the lemon juice and boil for a few minutes longer. Remove the syrup from the heat and let the mixture cool slightly.

Let the baklava cool slightly. Pour the honey mixture on top -- both syrup and baklava should be warm while doing this. Let the baklava and syrup cool thoroughly, uncovered. Let the syrup soak into the baklava for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Cook's Note: The baklava pieces can be wrapped individually in muffin tin liners and frozen after the syrup has been absorbed.