Baklava

• Prep time: 45 minutes
• Bake time: 40-50 minutes
• 
  
• Pastry:
• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo/filo dough sheets*
• 1 pound chopped nuts (I used pecans and walnuts)
• 1 cup butter
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar

Sauce:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey

*This can be found in the frozen food section of most grocery stores. I found it by the frozen berries at Smiths. It is about $3.25 there.

1. Make sauce first. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes, then put in fridge to cool (this is key!).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan (Pam).
3. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon and sugar. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. You may need to cut the whole stack in half to fit, each sheet should be about the size of the pan. Mine was already cut to the right size when I bought it.
4. Place two sheets of dough in pan, brush butter on with a pastry brush**. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered.
5. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top of the 8 layered sheets. Top with two sheets of dough, and more butter and nuts.Continue layering, but save 8 sheets for the top layer.
6. When you have 8 sheets left, layer them two by two with butter in between, just like the bottom layer.
7. When you are done, use a sharp knife to cut the baklava into diamond or square shapes (see bottom picture) all the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 40-50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp. I did half the time on the middle shelf and half the time on the top to ensure that it gets golden brown and crispy.
8. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon the cold sauce over it. Let it cool for a few hours. Leave it uncovered so it doesn't get soggy, or you can freeze it.

**NOTE: A pastry brush is ideal to have but not necessary. I made it without and it was fine and much faster. These instructions were for if you have a pastry brush. If you don't, do 4 sheet layers (instead of 2) and just spoon the butter on and spread it around with the back of the spoon. It worked fine :)

If you have any questions or a better way to make this, let me know! Enjoy!!! Thomas said it was the best baklava he has ever had, so I was pretty happy with it :)