Finally, my PISTACHIO BAKLAVA

Good things comes to those who wait; and boy, have I waited sooooo long to be able to have a taste of this again, and FINALLY make one. 

I have tasted Baklava only three times in my life. The first time was when my dear mother hand carried some as one of her “pasalubongs” when she and my father came back home from a U.S. vacation. Since then, I couldn’t forget it. I even have dreams about it; it’s definitely one of those moments: LOVE AT FIRST BITE! The second and third time came when my then boyfriend, now husband took me to The Cafe Mediterranean during some of our rare dates; and its always been a gratifying experience. So you see, its been quite a while since I had my last baklava.

I have wanting for sooooo long too, to make one myself, but I couldn't find any phyllo pastry around here. I wanted to make a substitute for it but the reviews for the recipes I found, claims it wouldn't be flaky when baked so I postponed the idea of using that. Good thing, one of my good friend bought some for me since she is near one of the branches of Santis Delicatessen where they carry a good brand of Phyllo pastry.

I got some free time yesterday so I have finally made one. I have a lot of baklava recipes at hand but I used the one with the most reviews on allrecipes.com, and just made some twitches upon reading the other readers reviews. Here's how I did it:

Ingredients: (for about 18 servings)

1 16 ounce package phyllo pastry (allowed to thaw completely)

450 g finely chopped, roasted pistachios (you can use any nuts of your choice, though walnuts and pistachios are best)

1 cup melted butter

3 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup white (or brown sugar)

1 cup honey 

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 a dash of ground clove

3 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

1) Roast the pistachios in a pan, and finely chop it.

note: My hands got so tired after peeling these pistachios from its shells, I needed a manicure! So instead of finely chopping all of these manually, I put them in batches in a blender (we still don't have a food processor) and pulsed them for 3 seconds each.

2) Toss 3 tsp of ground cinnamon and 3 tbsp brown sugar to the finely chopped nuts. Set aside.

NOTE: If you like it really SWEET, follow this. But I think the next time I would be making baklava, I would lessen the brown sugar to 1 tbsp or just not add it at all. The baklava when soaked in the sauce gets really sweet.

3) Preheat your oven to 350 F.

4) Begin making the sauce by boiling 1 1/2 cup sugar to 1 1/2 cup water, just until all sugar has melted. Add 1 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 cup honey and simmer for 20 minutes. If desired, add a dash of ground cloves. Set aside and allow to cool in the fridge until ready to use.

5) Butter bottoms and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan.

6) Unroll the phyllo dough and cut it to fit the pan.

* yes, that's a chef knife, that's our sharpest knife around here. haha.

tip: to keep the phyllo from drying out, cover them with a dampened cloth or a cling wrap when not in use.

7) Place 2 sheets of dough in the pan, and butter thoroughly, cover it with another 2 sheets until you have a total of 8 sheets.

8) Sprinkle about 3 tbsp of the nut mixture on top.

9) Top with 2 sheets of phyllo; butter it. Then sprinkle again with nuts, cover with 2 sheets of phyllo; layering as you go.

10) Top layer should be 6-8 sheets deep, and buttered in between 2 sheets.

11) Using a sharp knife, cut into diamonds or squares to within a HALF inch FROM the bottom of the pan. 

tip: don't go all the way to the bottom so that when you pour the sweet sauce, it would  seep to every layer of the baklava and does not just sit at the bottom.

note: If you have extra melted butter, pour it on top the baklava before baking it.

12) Bake for 50 minutes until golden and crispy.

13) Remove from oven and immediate pour the COOLED sauce. This way, it will be crispy.

14) Let it soak in the sauce for at least 10 minutes before serving. Overnight is BEST. Transfer to individual cupcake papers if desired. Garnish with more pistachios on top (optional).

Some more tips:

- Make sauce ahead of time to allow it to cool.

- Pour COOL sauce to WARM baklava or WARM sauce to a COOLED baklava so it becomes crispy.

- You can freeze the leftovers but leave it uncovered so it wouldn't be soggy.

This is probably last of the "luxurious" treat I will give you for the month of March. For next week, I will be posting recipes for fish and vegetable dishes in preparation for the coming Holy Week.

For now, I will savor each bite of this. =)

Have a great weekend ahead.

Happy Eating! =)