This recipe is a combination of the Baklava recipe on Wikibooks and Robin
Holly's Maple Baklava. I also want to try out the Good Eats recipe as well.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 1 lb. Phyllo dough. (Note that there should be at least twenty sheets.)
- 4 to 5 cups pistachios, chopped coarsely. (Walnuts are an acceptable substitute, but they leave a sharp aftertaste which I do not like.)
- ½ cup sugar.
- ¼ tsp. ground cloves.
- 1 tsp. cinnamon.
- 1 cup sweet butter.
Syrup
- ½ cup of water.
- 1 ½ cups amber maple syrup.
- 2 cups granulated sugar.
- 5 cloves.
- 1 tsp. lemon juice.
Procedure
Pastry
- Combine nuts, cinnamon, cloves, and sugar. Melt butter in a saucepan.
- Use pastry brush to brush inside of a 14 X 10 ½ inch pan with melted butter.
- Line bottom of pan with one piece of Phyllo dough. Fold under excess Phyllo.
- Alternate sides with each piece of Phyllo, brushing the top of each layer with melted butter.
- Repeat five (5) times, making five layers.
- On the 6th sheet, sprinkle evenly with nut mixture.
- Continue until all nut mixture is used and last six (6) buttered sheets of Phyllo form top crust.
- Use a sharp knife to cut into triangle shapes.
- Place a single clove in the middle of each triangle for visual effect.
- Bake at 300 °F (150 °C) for about 1 ½ hours or until lightly brown.
Syrup
- Combine syrup ingredients. Boil syrup for about 5 minutes and then allow to cool.
- Pour cooled syrup over hot pastry. Enjoy!
