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December 26, 2006

Mom's Baklava

Baklava Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of walnutss and almonds, chopped fine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
40 sheets Athens Fillo Dough, thawed
1 cup butter, melted
Warm Syrup (recipe below)

Warm Syrup Ingredients:
1 cups sugar
1 cup Karo syrup
2 cups water
1 cup honey
1 lemon peel or 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Warm Syrup Directions:
Bring all ingredients to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and cool.

Baklava Directions:
Combine walnuts and almonds, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Brush 12" x16" baking pan with butter. Overlap 8 sheets on bottom of pan, buttering each sheet as you place in the the pan, covering the bottom. Sprniklg with 1/3 walnut mixture. Overlap 8 more buttered fillow sheets on top. Spread 1/3 additional walnut mixture over the fillo. Overlap with another 8 buttered fillo sheets and the remaining walnut mixture.

Finish baklava by overlapping the remaining 16 sheets, buttering the sheets as you fut them in the pan. With sharp knife, score fillo into 1 1/2" diamonds or squares. Brush with remaining butter. Bake in preheated 350 degrees farenheight over for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golen brown. Cool slightly and pour warm syrup evenly over baklava. Cool completely, cut and serve.

General Fillo Dough Handling Directions:

  • Allow fillow dough to thaw in refrigerator overnight. Bring to room temperature before using.

  • Carefully unroll fillow sheets onto a smooth, dry surface.

  • Cover fillo completely with plastic wrap, then a damp towel.

  • Keep fillo covered until needed. DO not leave uncovered for more than one minute to avoid drying out.

  • Microwave butter until melted. This will give you a lighter and flakier pastry.

  • Brush each layer of fillo with melted butter, margerine, or oil.

  • To prevent edges from cracking, brush edges first and then work into center.

  • Be sure to brush the last layer of fillo with melted butter.

  • Fillings should be chilled and not excessively moist.

  • Fillo may be rolled and refrozen to store when not in use.

    • Posted by Kelli Little at 12:04 AM

    December 25, 2006

    Grandma's Deep Dish Apple Pie

    Ingredients:
    1 recipe for top and bottom crust to 9" pie
    4 tbl butter
    1 cup white sugar
    2/3 cup brown sugar
    1 tsp. nutmeg
    1 tsp. cinnamon
    1/4 tsp. salt
    1/8 cup flour
    Lemon Juice
    8-9 cups thinly sliced pared, skinned apples (about 7-8 medium)

    Directions:
    Stir together both sugars, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt at set aside. In a separate container, sprinkle apple slices with lemon juice and coat evenly but not to strongly. Heat oven to 425 degrees farenheit.

    Place bottom part of pastry crust in 9" deep-ish round glass pan. Coat apple slices evenly and place in pan. Slice butter in small chunks and spread throughout top of apple concoction. Place top part of pastry crust on, and 'shell' or 'rivet' the edges all the way around. Cut slits near the center, but unconnecting or make a fork pattern in the top crust. Sprinkle any extra sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg on crust.

    Cover pie with tinfoil and bake for approximately 60 minutes. (60 minutes will cook the apples and give them a slight firmness, rather than gooshy, mooshy apples.) Remove the tinfoil cover and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, browning the crust. Depending on how full your pie pan is, you may want to put a baker sheet beneath it to catch any drippings. Make certain that you bake the pie until juice begins to bubble through the slits on top of the pie.

    Posted by Kelli Little at 11:56 PM