No-Measure Baklava
- 1 (16 ounce) packagefrozen phyllo dough
- 2 cups ground walnuts (rolled)
- 4 -8 tablespoons cinnamon (go to drug store or dollar store)
- 4 whole cloves or 14 teaspoon ground cloves
- 12 teaspoon cardamom (cardamom is optional but it makes a noticeable flavor improvement) or 6 cardamom seeds (cardamom is optional but it makes a noticeable flavor improvement) or 1 cardamom pod (cardamom is optional but it makes a noticeable flavor improvement)
- 1 -2 cup honey (a honeybear will do)
- 1 cup butter (I have heard that half btr or mrgrn and half vgtbl oil works fine but I haven't tried it)
- Thaw phyllo dough inside sealed pkg on counter at least an hour (it can still be cold).
- Start preheating your oven to 300.
- Roll the walnuts, a couple handfuls at a time, inside a large freezer ziplock bag with a rolling pin.
- I can only get them as fine as about the size of pearl barley before I say "good enough" and it seems to work fine but one person say it should be finer (but they eat it up immediately so nobody's tastebuds are complaining).
- Place a 13x9 pan with 1 tbsp butter/margarine in the oven for a couple minutes to melt the butter, remove it back out.
- If there is any excess pour it into your saucepan.
- Melt your butter in a saucepan on low heat putting any whole spices (such as whole cardamom or whole cloves) in to release their flavor.
- Lay 6 layers or so of phyllo dough in pan.
- Sprinkle with 1/2 c rolled walnuts (should almost cover), 1-2 tbsp of cinnamon (should cover) and drizzle 1-2 tsbp melted butter and 1 tbsp of honey.
- Layer 4 layers of phyllo (I found I could use broken sheets in the middle layers as long as I used whole sheets for top and bottom and it was unnoticeable) and repeat.
- Aim for 4 layers of walnut.
- You will not use up the whole pkg of phyllo.
- Wrap tighly and refreeze.
- Top with the last layers of phyllo, cut with a sharp knife lengthwise to make 4 rows (don't cut all the way to the bottom) and then diagonally crossways every 1.5 inches or so (start by cutting a triagle shape at the top of each row, diagonals all the way down and end with a triangle again).
- Drizzle with 2 tbsp melted butter, bake 1 hr or until top is golden brown.
- Remove and let cool to room temp (few hours), then liberally drizzle honey into every crack,and around the edges.
- The cracks should be full to the top.
- And drizzle a little across the surface.
- Let sit until honey is absorbed (another hour or as long as you want) then cut with sharp knife ALL the way through to the bottom, layer in stacks on a plate, and serve.
- Cover like on a cakeplate or under a large bowl.
ground walnuts, cinnamon, ground cloves, cardamom, honey, butter
Taken from www.food.com/recipe/no-measure-baklava-126424 (may not work)