|
Wolfgang Puck Recipe Contest Course Main Ingredient Cuisine Specialty Cooking |
|
Apricot Baklava a la Hages
|
|
||||||
A rich, decadent, nutty Greek pastry with a fruity surprise. A fresh apricot syrup is a delightful contrast to the densely packed nuts.
1hour 15 minutes 20 plus servings Ingredients 1 ½ lbs phyllo pastry, thawed Filling: 1 lb. butter, melted 1¼ lbs. chopped Walnuts or Almonds ½ cup sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1 bottle whole cloves Syrup: 3½ cups sugar 2-½ cups water 2 cups apricot jam 2 tablespoons honey 1 lemon, peeled rind & 1 tablespoon juice 1 stick cinnamon 4 whole cloves Directions Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Using a pastry brush butter an 11”x15”x 2’’ pan. Obtain a clean kitchen towel and dampen slightly. In a food processor combine nuts & sugar with ground spices. Pulse until nuts are medium fine chunky texture. Make room on tabletop or counter top to place nuts, melted butter with pastry brush, baking pan and phyllo dough sheets. Prepare phyllo by removing from package and unfold. Once the dough is out of it’s paper package you must work quickly or the pastry will dry out. Count 8 sheets of dough set aside and cover with a barely damp kitchen towel this is for the top. Count 8 sheets of pastry for bottom, brushing butter between each layer. Scoop a handful of nuts and sprinkle evenly over the phyllo sheet. Lay 3 sheets of phyllo, brushing butter between each layer. Scoop another handful of nuts and sprinkle over pastry. Continue layering. Rotating the pan several times helps to keep the distribution of nuts even. Don’t worry if some sheets tear, just patch torn pieces together and keep working. The important things to remember are to keep pastry from drying out, butter between each phyllo pastry sheet and spread nuts evenly. When you run out of nuts and pastry, Place the last 8 sheets remember to butter each one for the top. Using a long knife, start at the top left corner of the pan and cut baklava at a 45-degree angle, spacing 2 inches apart. Continue down the length of the pan. Repeat cuts starting at the top right corner working down the length of the pan. The desired finished cuts should be a diamond shape marquis piece. Make sure the knife reaches all the way to the bottom. Place a whole clove in the center of each diamond piece. Heat remaining butter and pour over the top. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 300 degrees. While baklava is baking, prepare syrup. Combine ingredients sugar, water, jam, honey, lemon rind, cinnamon and cloves for syrup, except lemon juice, in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15minutes. Set aside and cool. Take the lemon rind, cinnamon stick and cloves out of syrup and stir in lemon juice. When baklava is finished baking, remove from oven and pour syrup evenly over hot pastry. It will sizzle. Allow it to cool completely before serving. Place cut pieces in cupcake paper liners and store in a tightly covered dish at room temperature.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
