omnomnom | Paklava

What it is: Paklava is Armenian baklava. The main difference between paklava and baklava is what it is sweetened with. Baklava is traditionally sweetened with honey, while paklava uses a simple syrup.

You should read this entry on clarifying butter before you attempt this. The flavor of paklava relies on the clarified butter. You should also take a look at this entry about simple syrups.

Things needed (stuff):
9x12 pan
large mixing bowl
spoon
cutting board and knife
nonstick spray
Oven

Things needed (food):
One box phyllo dough, thawed
2 sticks butter, clarified
4 cups simple syrup
4 cups of walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
Spices: ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon

How-to:
First, make your clarified butter and simple syrup. You need 4 cups TOTAL simple syrup. Set them aside.

Next, chop up your walnuts. I like using a special curved cutting knife called an ulu but you can use a regular knife and cutting board.

^my nuts, my cutting board, and the bowl in the sink is where I'll be putting the nuts once they're cut up.

^same picture, plus the ulu

^me goofing around. <3

^the nuts, chopped up. If you look on the lower left hand corner of the ulu board, there's a whole walnut there for size comparison.

After all your nuts are chopped, slide them into the large bowl. To that, add your sugar:

Then you add your spices:

I have no idea how much of everything I use. I'd estimate around 1/2 tsp for everything but the allspice, which gets maybe a full tsp. I'd suggest adding a dash of everything, then mixing it up and tasting it. It shouldn't be overpowering, but there should be definite spice there. I tend to go a bit lighter on the cinnamon and a bit heavier on the allspice and cardamom, but that's a personal preference. I don't like cinnamon. Remember, 1/2 tsp is an estimate, so use your own judgement!

Ok, now comes the tricky part.
Roll out your phyllo dough and cut it in half widthwise. That way, half a sheet will just about fit in your pan.
Spray your pan with nonstick spray. Lay down the first piece of dough (a single layer). Using a brush, gently cover the piece with clarified butter. You may need to reheat it a bit to get it clear again.

Lay down the next piece. Cover in butter. Repeat this 15 times or so. Make sure to cover ALL the edges with your dough. This may mean moving the placement clockwise so that there are no bare spots. Some spots will be less covered, and this is ok. Keep the majority of your dough covered at all times. Only leave 5-10 pieces uncovered at any one time. You should leave the rest of the pieces covered by plastic wrap or similar so they don't dry out. If your dough is sticking together, try to piece it together for coverage as best you can. Sometimes this isn't possible. That's ok.

After you've got 15 pieces down, put 1 cup of the sugar/nuts mixture in the center of the pan.

Then spread it out to cover the whole sheet.

Then put down the next sheet and cover it in butter.

Put down 5 sheets or so, then put another layer of nuts on. Repeat until the nuts are gone (total layers of nuts: 4-5)

Once the nuts are gone, top it with the remaining dough pieces. Cut it into diamonds:

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes to an hour. When the top is golden brown, it's done. Wait for it to cool a bit, then while it's still warm pour your completely cooled room-temperature simple syrup over the top. You may not need all of it, and that's ok. You want the syrup to come up through the cracks, but not cover the flaky top pieces.

This does NOT need to be refrigerated. It's best if you let it sit 24 hours before you serve it to allow the simple syrup time to meld with the other flavors.

-Kat

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Posted by

azurelunatic

Oooh, I might try this with pecans sometime, because it makes me woeful that it is so good and yet I cannot have any.

zarhooie

You can do it with pecans, or pretty much any nut. I like walnuts because I don't think they've got much flavor on their own. I'd love to try it with almonds too, actually.