Μπακλαβάς!

I <3 Baklava! I rarely ever have it because it's so saturated with honey (and fatness), but I figured I'd give it a shot and try to make some since it's not something I see hanging around the grocery store. And..I don't wanna go to a Greek restraunt just for dessert. 

I read "Closet Cooking" almost every other day because the creator, Kevin, comes up with some really good stuff! I excluded the lemon and orange peels from the recipe since, well, he said he didn't really taste them in the sauce..so I didn't wanna bother trying to track down a lemon and orange. The only thing that was time consuming was laying the phyllo dough since it's tissue paper thin. Truth my told, my kitchen smells pretty amazing right now! 

 Baklava straight out of the oven:

 

Baklava with the honey sauce poured onto it :)

Mine looks dark since I added cinnamon into the sauce. I didn't have a cinnamon stick!

Here's the recipe.. I highly recommend you stalk his site!

Ingredients:
4 cups walnuts (chopped)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup butter (melted)
1 pound phyllo pastry (thawed)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick cinnamon
2 inch slice lemon peel
2 inch slice orange peel
3/4 cup honey

Directions:
1. Mix the walnuts, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. Brush the bottom of a 9X13 inch pan with butter.
3. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 8 sheets in the pan.
4. Sprinkle 1/3 of the walnut mixture onto the phyllo in the pan.
5. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 2 sheets on top of the nut mixture.
6. Sprinkle 1/3 of the walnut mixture onto the phyllo in the pan.
7. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 2 sheets on top of the nut mixture.
8. Sprinkle 1/3 of the walnut mixture onto the phyllo in the pan.
9. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 8 sheets on top of the nut mixture.
10. Slice the baklava with a sharp knife.
11. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown on top, about 25-35 minutes.
12. Bring the water, sugar, cinnamon, lemon and orange to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
13. Add the honey and simmer for 2 minutes.
14. Remove the cinnamon, and peals from the syrup.
15. Pour the syrup over the baklava when it comes out of the oven.
16. Let the baklava cool for a few hours.