Maria's Not so Sweet Baklava. When making this baklava recipe, it helps to think of the ingredients list in three different components: Phyllo pastry-find frozen phyllo dough in the freezer section next to things like pie crust. Nut mixture-pistachios, walnuts, hazelnut, sugar, ground cinnamon, pinch of ground cloves. You can change the nut mixture according to what you have. Maria's Not so Sweet Baklava

You can have Maria's Not so Sweet Baklava using 15 ingredients and 14 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Maria's Not so Sweet Baklava
  1. It’s of Dough.
  2. It’s 2 box of Phyllo Dough.
  3. You need 1 of Very Sharp Knife without serrated edges.
  4. You need of Filling.
  5. Prepare 2 lb of Walnuts.
  6. You need 2 tbsp of Sugar.
  7. You need 2 tbsp of Cinnamon.
  8. It’s of Spreading between layers.
  9. It’s 3 stick of Unsalted Sweet Melted Butter.
  10. It’s 1 of Cooking Brush.
  11. Prepare of Sugar Water Topping.
  12. You need 2 1/2 cup of Water.
  13. Prepare 1 1/2 cup of Sugar.
  14. It’s 5 of Whole Cloves.
  15. Prepare 1/4 tsp of Pure Vanilla.

However, the syrup is not right. It is supposed to be thick in consistency, this syrup was too watery and was not thick enough. Something that should be added to the syrup is orange or lemon peel. It's traditional in baklava syrups and it gives a sweet scent and taste.

Maria's Not so Sweet Baklava step by step

  1. Preheat oven to 350.

  2. Chop up walnuts really fine add the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and mix together well and set aside..

  3. Use a 1 inch to 1.5 inch thick, flat wide baking pan at least 18"x14" if you don't have one that size you can cut sheets to fit your pan. cutting the sheets all together helps cut down prep time..

  4. Grease the bottom of the pan with cooking brush a light thin coating of melted butter..

  5. For a thin crust use four sheets on bottom of pan. For a thick crust on bottom use 8 sheets. after placing the sheets on the bottom of the pan with a cooking brush, coat the last sheet on top with the melted butter.

  6. Sprinkle a thin layer of the walnut mix to the buttered sheets..

  7. Add 4 sheets again and butter the last top sheet again and add again a thin layer of walnut mix. do these steps with both boxes until all sheets are used. but do not butter the very last sheet on top..

  8. Cutting the Baklava is easier when top is not greased..

  9. After cutting the Baklava use the brush to gently grease the top with the melted butter..

  10. Bake Baklava in middle of oven for 20 to 30 min depending on your oven. or until golden brown on top..

  11. While the Baklava is baking, you can make your Sugar water on the stove top..

  12. Add the water, sugar, cloves, and vanilla and let it boil until slightly thick. for about 20 min on medium heat stirring occasionally if not slightly thick add 5 more min to heating. if needed a larger amount of Sugar water just use double the ingredients..

  13. When Baklava is done pour sugar water with spoon into cracks of the cut lines to evenly coat baklava while its still hot. both baklava and sugar water need to be hot for this process. but not boiling hot, 1.5 cups worth of cooked sugar water should be good for a whole pan. but if you like it slightly moist use 2 cups of cooked sugar water..

  14. Enjoy.

Cut a diagonal diamond pattern in the baklava using a very sharp knife. And when a mince pie meets a baklava, it is usually a match made in festive heaven. Baklava is made from a Phyllo dough, nuts, butter and sugar. Once baked, a sweet syrup is poured on top, allowing it to soak into its layers. C. because, during this time, Assyrians were known to bake thin layers of dough with nuts and poured honey over it.