Baklava

Baklava is a classic Greek pastry traditionally made with phyllo dough, honey, nuts, and orange essence. Many other Middle Eastern nations too have pastries which are very similar, thanks to a long running tradition of sweet desserts which feature flaky and delicate pastry.
Read more about Baklava and its history here and here.

Phyllo is a simple flour-and-water dough that is stretched to paper thinness and cut into sheets. It is notoriously difficult to handle, because it is so fine and easily dries out as I quickly learnt! It can be found in the freezer section of most grocery stores.
More information on phyllo dough here and here.

We attended a potluck party over the weekend and Baklava was one of the three dishes that we prepared.
This recipe is Giada’s version of the traditional Baklava and was made using layers of paper-thin dough, buttered and placed in mini-muffin cups with a filling of a ground mixture of nuts, dried fruit, sugar, honey and spices, and baked at 350 degree F until golden brown. Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup almonds

12-15 dried apricots (the original recipe uses ¼ cup)

1/4 cup plain bread crumbs

1 Tbsp sugar (the original recipe uses 2 Tbsp)

¾ tsp cinnamon powder (the original recipe uses 1 ½ tsp)

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 stick butter, melted and divided

3 Tbsp honey

12 sheets phyllo dough (I used the Athens brand)
Special equipment: 2 mini-muffin pans (I only had one pan, so I prepared two batches)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grind the almonds, walnuts, apricots, bread crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and ground cloves to a coarse mixture in a food processor.

Transfer this to a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and the honey and mix well to combine.

Place 1 sheet of phyllo on a clean and dry surface. Using a pastry brush and the remaining melted butter, lightly cover the entire sheet of phyllo with melted butter. Cover the first sheet with a second sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Continue until there is a stack of 6 sheets of phyllo. Cut the stacked phyllo rectangle into 12 equal pieces (Cut lengthwise into 4 pieces and widthwise into 3 pieces.)

Gently press each cut piece of phyllo into the mini-muffin tin cups. Press 1 spoon of the ground mixture into each of the phyllo cups. Gather the ends of each of the phyllo squares and twist to make a little sachet.

Bake until the edges of the phyllo are golden (this takes about 20 to 22 minutes.) When cool enough to handle, remove the baklava sachets and transfer to a serving plate.

This recipe yields around 24 little baklavas.

I followed Giada’s recipe and instructions very carefully after making a few minor modifications to the recipe. The end result was not disappointing at all. Needless to say, this Greek pastry was a great hit at the party and was completely worth all the time and effort that went into making it.

This is my entry for the Middle Eastern edition of A.W.E.D. being hosted by Siri @ Siri's Corner.

This is also being sent to Andrew @ Spittoon Extra for Waiter There's Something In My...Dried Fruit and Nuts.