Baklava is Better than Twinkies

It's that time of year when inevitably you are going to end up needing to bring some type of food to a social gathering of friends, coworkers, or family.

With Hostess out of business, my old trick of arranging Twinkies on a plate is out! While I'm sure that now Twinkies would be a bit hit at just about any gathering (except one at a union hall), I only have 20 left and would have to go all the way to Canada to get more, so I had to come up with a plan B. So what is just as good as a Twinkie? ... Baklava (aka Honey Bombs)!

You do not see Baklava at social gatherings often because while it is not "hard" to make, it is VERY labor intensive. Maybe I am just slow in my old age, but from start to finish it takes me about 3 hours with 2.5 of that being "active" time - But oooh is it so worth it. Go out and buy the finest baklava from the best deli in town and compare it to homemade. There is no comparison - Why? Because of profit margins. One piece of baklava at my local deli is $3.50, and to get it down to that price they have to cut a lot of corners - less nuts, less butter, less honey, less phyllo ...you get the idea.

Essentially I use Michael Symon's recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-symon/baklava-recipe/index.html), The only changes I make are that I use crushed Carr's water crackers instead of zwieback, and 1 more TBLS of lemon juice (3 instead of 2).

• 32 sheets of phyllo dough
• 1 pound of unsalted butter
• 1 pound of walnuts (chopped)
• 1 cup of well crushed Carr's water crackers
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 8 oz of honey
• 3 cups of sugar
• 3 TBLs of lemon

Mix the chopped nuts, cinnamon, and cracker crumbs in a large bowl.

Now here comes the "hard" part - assembly. Start by brushing a 9x13 glass dish with melted butter, and then create the bottom with 10 layers of phyllo dough, brushing each layer with butter before laying the next. Then spread 1/4 of your nut mixture followed by 4 more layers of dough (each brushed with butter of course), and repeat this sequence until you have used all the nut mixture. Then top it all off with 10 more layers of dough. What you end up with is:

• 10 layers of dough
• nuts
• 4 layers of dough
• nuts
• 4 layers of dough
• nuts
• 4 layers of dough
• nuts
• 10 layers of dough
• And butter all over the place - note the parchment paper :).

This is important - Cut it before you bake it (350 for about 45 min). If you attempt to cut it after it is baked, the top layers will crumble!

Once it is in the oven, you get a 15-20 minute break!

You want to start to make the syrup about 30 minutes before it comes out of the oven because you are trying to time it so both the syrup and the baked baklava have a 5-10 minute cool down period before the committing to each other - and this is a life long commitment.

For the syrup, combine the honey, sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil stirring constantly (if you don't stir, this will boil over like a volcano - trust me on this). Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer for about 20 minutes. This is the most interesting part. Honey by its nature has a lot of impurities in it so as it simmers an odd looking scum will form on the top - the color and consistency of the scum will depend on the brand and probably batch of honey. Skim this off as it forms. When the scum is gone and new scum stops forming (about 20 minutes) add the lemon juice and let it simmer a couple of more minutes.

By now the baklava should be baked. Let both the baklava and syrup cool for about 5 to 10 minutes, then pour the syrup all over the top of the baklava. Your Done! But NO you can't have any. It needs to sit for several hours (over night) before it is ready - sort of sucks after all that work!  

Now all that is left is getting it ready to travel. This is not too hard, but you do have to remember to take the cat out of the tray before loading it up with the baklava. Time saving hint - if you have never posted the picture of the cat sleeping in the tray on Facebook, then you don't need to wash it because nobody will know!