A Christmas Tradition between me and mom started as a way to save some money and prevent some confusion. Who really knows what your 3rd cousin twice-removed wants for Christmas? She didn’t. I definitely didn’t. So, we decided to make Christmas goodies to send to friends and family members as their presents rather than buying them things. It’s homemade, it’s full of love, and EVERYONE loves sweets!!
So the baking began. Baklava was one of the firsts, followed by fudge and divinity (which only turned out correctly once that I can remember). Over the years, the list has grown into 3-5 constants, and we’ve been trying new recipes each year to see which people like best. (By people, I really mean us.)
This year, though, is a little bit different. I now live about 4-5 hours away from my mom. Which really, isn’t a bad drive. But the lack of tread on my tires and lack of money in my pocket prevent me from being able to make the trip. So this year, there will be no mom & daughter Christmas cooking. This year… we’ll be doing our own thing.
While slightly depressing, it’s also sort of exciting. This year I get to make the normal goodies (and some new ones) all on my own! Since baklava has to sit for 2-3 weeks, I decided to start there.
With baklava, you begin with an 11X17 cookie sheet. You layer 15 sheets of filo dough, and then evenly layer ground nuts on top of that. I prefer hazelnuts, but they’re just too darn expensive this year. I’ve seen pistachios used but I’m not a huge fan of those little green guys. So this year, almonds were the key! Toss them in the food processor and…Presto! Nut meal! Or, you can go to Trader Joe’s and buy some of theirs in a bag. 
Repeat 15 layers/nut action, and then layer the rest of the filo dough on top.
You’re going to cut the baklava, according to the perfectly straight diagram my wonderful boyfriend P made for me. Please make sure you have a really sharp knife, otherwise you’ll ruin your filo dough. You can of course make the pieces bigger or smaller, depending on your preference. Be careful with this part. 1.) Don’t cut yourself. 2.) Hold down the layers of filo dough so they don’t come up. Because otherwise…they will, and they’ll make one nasty mess.
I recommend starting with the vertical lines, and then doing the diagonal lines. Once you’ve cut it into pieces, you’re going to poke a hole in the middle of each piece, and then place a whole clove in that hole. It adds flavor and holds the pieces together.
WHILE you’ve been doing all of this, you should have been melting your 2 lbs of unsalted sweet cream butter. It doesn’t have to boil or get to a certain temperature, it just needs to melt. Once you’ve cut and cloved the baklava, pour your butter over the baklava and put it in the oven!!
About 30 minutes into your baking baklava, you should start the syrup. Sugar, water, and a slice of lemon and orange, boiled to soft ball stage (235°). Don’t forget to stir constantly to prevent burning. The goal is to have your syrup done at the same time your baklava is done. If this doesn’t happen, turn off your oven and simply allow your baklava to stay warm that way it’ll still soak up the syrup.
Once your syrup is done, you’re going to remove it from the heat, and stir in your honey. Once fully incorporated, carefully pour over your cooked baklava. Do it slowly, allowing the syrup to drop to the bottom, otherwise you’ll have a sticky mess of an overflow.
Once you’ve fully gotten all of your syrup in there, you’re going to use a cold-dampened TEA towel to wrap around the cookie sheet, like so: 
This is actually a very important part. It draws the syrup UP through the layers towards the wet towel, allowing it to get thoroughly sugarified. You let it sit for 10 minutes, and then rinse and repeat.
Then…you should have some beautiful….BAKLAVA!
Remember, to allow your baklava to sit, covered, for approximately 2-3 weeks before handing it out. It allows the flavor to grow, and no, it won’t go bad for a while longer.
Baklava
Preheat oven to 300
1 hr baklava cooking time, 30+ minutes for syrup
Ingredients:
2 lb filo dough (I use ‘The Fillo Factory’ brand)
3 cups ground hazelnuts or almonds
whole cloves
2 lb unsalted sweet butter
4.5 cups of sugar
2 1/4 cup water
slice of lemon
slice of orange
2 1/4 cup of honey
Directions:
1.) Get your giant jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet pan that’s 11×17 with high sides) and your filo dough. Layer 15 sheets in the pan. Sprinkle half of your ground nuts on top of the sheets.
2.) Follow with another 15 layers and then rest of the nuts. Finish it off with the remaining filo dough layers.
3.) Begin melting your butter in a medium saucepan, over medium/medium-high heat. You don’t want to burn it, but you want it to melt and boil a little.
4.) To cut your baklava traditionally, follow the given diagram above. You may cut them into squares, but they really don’t turn out quite as pretty. Make sure to hold down the layers of filo dough you’re cutting through to prevent slippage. Use a sharp knife, but be careful and DON’T CUT YOURSELF!!
5.) With a small tool, poke small holes in the middle of each piece. You’ll also need to hold down the top layers of filo dough when doing this so they’ll stay where they’re supposed to.
6.) Place whole cloves in the holes you’ve created. This will add flavor and help hold the baklava together.
7.) Pour melted butter over baklava and put into the oven to cook for 1 hour @ 300°.
8.) About 30 minutes in, you should start your syrup. In a medium saucepan, combine your sugar, water and citrus slices. Heat over medium-high heat to softball stage (235°) on your candy thermometer. Stir somewhat constantly to make sure it doesn’t burn. Definitely don’t leave it sitting for any period of time unattended…otherwise it’ll burn. (I hate speaking from experience.)
9.) Hopefully your baklava and syrup will be done at the same time. If not, just turn off the oven and make sure your baklava doesn’t burn.
10.) Once your syrup has reached softball stage, remove your thermometer, remove from heat, and quickly stir in the honey until incorporated.
11.) Remove baklava from oven. Pour syrup mixture slowly and carefully over baklava, making sure to cover all pieces. You must pour ALL of it over the baklava.
12.) Wet a tea towel with cold water, ring out, and wrap over the baklava. Let sit for 10 minutes. This will allow the syrup to be drawn up through all the layers of the filo dough.
13.) Rinse and repeat. After the last 10 minutes, you’re done! Cover with saran wrap, and allow to sit for 2-3 weeks to allow the flavor to fully peak. It’ll last for about a month and a half before it starts to get stale.
And now…you have to wait. If you take the baklava out too soon, the syrup won’t have been absorbed fully. But I promise, it’s well worth the wait. 
Baker: Tessa
Source: ME! (Okay, my mom really, but… same thing! It’s all in the family now!)
so it looks like this:
YUM!!!
