Golden Greek Baklava

Total Time: 2 hrs 50 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 50 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups honey
• 2 inches piece cinnamon sticks
• 4 lemon slices
• 4 orange slices
• 2 cups finely chopped walnuts or 2 cups ground walnuts
• 1 cup finely chopped blanched almonds or 1 cup ground blanched almond
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 (1 lb) package prepared phyllo pastry, leaves thawed if frozen (15x12) or 1 (1 lb) package prepared strudel pastry dough, thawed if frozen (15x12)
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, melted

Recipe

• 1 prepare honey syrup: in a medium-sized saucepan over high heat, combine 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar. bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.
• 2 add honey, cinnamon stick, and lemon and orange slices. reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. strain; cool. syrup should measure approximately 2-1/2 cups.
• 3 prepare filling: preheat oven to 325 degrees. in a small bowl, mix nuts, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. remove pastry leaves from package; cover with a damp towel to prevent drying out. in a 15-1/2x10x1-inch jelly-roll pan, place 2 pastry leaves, brushing top leaf with some of the melted butter.
• 4 sprinkle with a third of the filling. add 6 more pastry leaves, brushing every other one with butter. sprinkle with another third of the nut filling. layer 6 more leaves, brushing every other one with butter. sprinkle with the remaining nut filling.
• 5 stack remaining pastry leaves on top, brushing every one with melted butter; brush top pastry leaf with butter. trim overhanging edges, if necessary.
• 6 with a sharp knife, cut through the top layer on the long side making 8 diagonal cuts at 1-1/2-inch intervals to form diamonds. (cut through top layer only; do not cut through all the layers.).
• 7 bake 60 minutes or until baklava is golden and puffy. turn off oven; leave in oven for 60 minutes. remove. pour cooled honey syrup over hot baklava. following diamond pattern, cut all the way through baklava. place pan on wire rack; cool in pan so that baklava absorbs syrup.