Baklava

Ever since tasting these Turkish treats at a Shawarma shop downtown, I've been wanting to make them myself. While I heard these are usually made with pistachios, I decided to use almonds and walnuts. Pistachios were just too expensive, especially with the amount of honey you have to use for this recipe.

To make these sweet, crunchy little squares yourself you will need:

• 1 packet of phyllo pastry ( you can find this in the frozen section of your grocery store)
• 2/3 cup butter 
• 1 1/2 cups almonds
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves

To start, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. You should have already thawed the phyllo as per the directions on the box.

Melt the butter in a small bowl.

In a food processor, process the nuts, spices and sugar into a medium texture.

Next, you will need to brush butter on your 9x13 cake pan.

Fold your first piece of phyllo and place it in the pan. Open the fold, butter the first layer and then fold the second half back over.

Repeat this with 4 more sheets of phyllo until you have done 5 full sheets in total.

When you are done, trim the excess phyllo on the sides, if you have any.

Spread half of the nut mixture over the dough and press down.

Butter two more entire sheets of phyllo over the nut mixture, then spread the other half of the nuts over that.

On top of the second layer of nuts, butter four more whole sheets of phyllo.

With a sharp knife, cut through the top layer of phyllo to mark your pieces. I did 35 pieces but you can choose your own size.

When you have cut out the top layer, place the pan in the oven for 30 minutes.

While you wait for it to cook, you can make the syrup. For this you will need:

• 1 cup water
• 13 oz honey
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 tbsp lemon juice

Start by mixing all ingredients into a medium pot.

Over medium heat, bring the syrup to boil.

Lower heat to Medium-Low and simmer the syrup for 20 minutes so that it can reduce.

Let the syrup cool. After 30 minutes in the oven, the baklava will look like this.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 20 minutes.

When it's done baking it will look like this:

Poor the cooled syrup over the baklava, making sure you get it around the outside and in the score marks.

You might not need to use the whole syrup mixture. Stop pouring when it looks like this:

Let the Baklava sit for several (could take up to 4) hours until it absorbs all of the syrup.

Ta Da! Enjoy :)