Happy Baklava Day! I’m assuming most of you’ve had this delicious treat before, but have you made it? It can be a time-consuming endeavor; something you definitely want to attempt on a weekend (not a weeknight when you’re also trying to make dinner for your family), and a good exercise in patience and reading ahead to ensure you don’t miss a critical step during assembly (kicked-over step stool not photographed). All-in-all, this was a tasty success, even if I made (what I thought) a critical error at the end. So, here starts the recipe review…
Cook’s Illustrated has a ton of fabulous recipes that almost always turn out fantastic. If it turns out wrong, it’s normally your fault, not theirs. I was once a home-tester for them on prospective recipes. What I found, though, was some of their recipes can be clunky and some steps are instructed-to-be-completed not necessarily in the best order. Both of these foibles occurred in this recipe, one leading to my temper tantrum meltdown when the recipe was all but completed. Cook’s has handy little tutorial steps (with illustrations) on how to complete certain steps. While reading about/completing the layering process, they include pouring the syrup over baklava...but this is supposed to be done AFTER you bake it, not during assembly. I even read the recipe all the way through, beforehand - but this recipe takes time, and the home cook can understandably have tunnel vision in such a critical portion of the recipe. Now, it turned out tasty, but instead of being sticky on your fingers at-the-end (one thing I don’t particularly enjoy about baklava) it was really sticky in the pan (because I cooked down the syrup for 90 minutes).
Below, is an adaptation of their recipe. It saves some time and makes things more clear by re-organizing the steps to avoid potential mishaps. I highly recommend this delicious treat and it goes great with some strong coffee.
Pistachio Baklava with Cardamom and Rosewater
adapted from Cooks’ Illustrated, America’s Test Kitchen
If you want to make clarified butter, by all means go ahead and do it (I did since I’d never done so before), but the process of spooning-out the clarified butter can be very tedious. Thankfully, you can buy it at the grocery store and melt it down in seconds - this is especially useful at the end when you’ve run out of butter and won’t have to go through the entire clarification process.
1 lb frozen phyllo dough, fully thawed
12 oz. shelled, raw pistachios (if you can only find shell-on, purchase about 1.5 lbs)
1 tsp ground cardamom
Sugar
Table Salt
1.5 cups clarified butter (if you want to make your own see recipe link above)
¾ cup water
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
10 peppercorns
1 tbsp rosewater
Take out your frozen phyllo dough and thaw it on the counter for about 4 hours (or in the fridge overnight).
Prepare the nut filling: place the shelled pistachios in a food processor and pulse about 20 times, until the nuts are in little pieces. Spoon out 1 tbsp and reserve in a small bowl for garnishing. Pour the remaining pulverized pistachios into a medium-sized bowl and stir together with 2 tbsp sugar, the cardamom, and ⅛ tsp of salt.
Melt your butter and preheat the oven to 300 degrees with the rack in the lower-third.
When ready to assemble: Carefully unroll and stack your thawed phyllo on a large cutting board. Lay 1 sheet in a 13x9 baking pan (don’t use non-stick) or pyrex dish, trimming so it just fits. Place the trimmed piece on top of your stack of phyllo and, using a sharp chef’s knife, trim the stack to match the top piece of phyllo. Cover the phyllo stack with a damp kitchen towel.
Using a pastry brush, spread some melted butter in the bottom and along the sides of your baking dish. Place 1 sheet down. Carefully brush it with some melted butter. Be sure to completely cover the sheet with melted butter. Repeat this process with 7 more sheets.
Sprinkle on 1 cup of your nut mixture all over the phyllo. Place another phyllo sheet on top of the nuts. Dab some melted butter onto the sheet (brushing will move/tear the phyllo). Repeat with 5 more sheets. As you move up the stack you can begin to brush lightly.
Sprinkle on 1 additional cup of nuts. Cover with a phyllo sheet and repeat the dabbing/brushing of melted butter with 5 more sheets.
Sprinkle on the remaining cup of the nut mixture. Cover with a phyllo sheet and repeat the dabbing/brushing of melted butter with 8 more sheets. Place 1 final sheet of phyllo on top, without brushing it with butter. With your palms, gently press down in the middle and work your way out to the edge to even out the baklava. Pour 4 tablespoons of melted, clarified butter over the top and brush it across the phyllo evenly.
Using a serrated knife in a gentle sawing motion and gently holding down the phyllo, make one long cut all the way through to the bottom from corner-to corner. Repeat 3 more times above the main cut line and 3 more times below the main cut line. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and repeat the slicing, making diagonal shapes in the process.
Place in the oven and bake for 90 minutes, rotating the pan after 45 minutes.
While the baklava bakes, prepare your syrup. In a small saucepan, combine 1.75 cups of sugar, ⅛ tsp of salt, the water, lemon juice and peppercorns and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring briefly at the end to ensure the sugar has fully dissolved. Pour into a 2-cup measuring cup (with spout) and allow to cool.
When the baklava is fully baked, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Remove the peppercorns from the cooled syrup and stir in the rosewater. Pour the syrup into the cut lines of the baklava until all but 2 tbsp remain. Pour the remainder over the surface of the baklava and sprinkle the 1 tbsp of reserved pistachios onto each diamond.
Allow to fully cool for 3 hours. Then, cover with foil and let sit for 6-8 hours to allow the flavors to meld.
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Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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