Have some extra free time this holiday season? Spend it baking your first pan of baklava

Christmas week has arrived whether we are ready or not. Lump me into the latter group, but I’m doing my best to pull it together. Usually this week is jam packed with cooking and baking in preparation for my 40 Farha family members to join us for a Christmas Day feast. Clearly, that isn’t happening this year, and I’m trying so hard not to be sad. It’s my favorite day of the year.

One signature dessert I make each year is baklava. If you’ve attended the St. George Lebanese Dinner, then you’ve had baklava. It’s the phyllo dough layered dessert with chopped pecans in the middle and sweet syrup drizzled on top. About as rich as it comes when it comes to sweets, it’s a beloved dessert by family and friends. When I bake a pan, I usually post it on social media, and many people quickly offer their sampling services. Luckily, a pan makes about 120 pieces, so there’s plenty to go around.

Making baklava is a long process that takes a couple of days. Good things cannot be rushed. Obviously, you need to gather ingredients first. I like to get pecan pieces at Nifty Nut House. But I have to be honest: This time of year, I’m not going near that place. It’s a zoo. So I purchase pecans at the store and use a food processor to chop them, but not too fine.

Make or purchase your ghee (which is also called rendered butter). Costco recently started carrying a great brand called Tin Star Foods that comes in a 32 ounce jar. Other places carry this brand, but you cannot beat the price at Costco (like with so many items).

Also make your syrup a day ahead of your baking day, as long as it’s not raining or snowing. I know this sounds like an old wives tale, but making syrup is similar to making candy, so just listen to Sitti Marguerite (Sitti is Arabic for grandma) who taught her granddaughter, Joan, who had me over to make baklava years ago. You see, every Sitti makes things a touch different. I never made baklava with mine because she passed away 11 years ago, and at that point, I wasn’t interested in making this time-intensive dessert.

The traditional way of making baklava is by layering several sheets of phyllo in plenty of melted ghee, tucking the corners in and rolling it into a log that will fit perfectly into your pan. This recipe makes things easier because you use an entire package of phyllo on the bottom layer, layering each piece and brushing it with melted ghee, and then after the package is empty, adding your pecan filling, and then another entire package of phyllo. You do trim the phyllo to the size of your half-sheet pan with a sharp knife, cutting right through the plastic and phyllo so it fits just right. And do be sure to use a slightly wet paper towel and flour sack towel over the phyllo as you layer it. Phyllo is very thin dough and it dries out quickly.

I could go on forever with details of how to make this delectable dessert, but if you read the recipe carefully, you will have success. Since we are all having quiet holidays, you might as well dig in and make a pan of baklava. Whomever you share it with will thank you immensely. This dessert is good any time of day, and especially with a cup of coffee in the morning. The coffee balances the baklava’s sweetness.

Here’s wishing you and yours some sweetness this holiday season. While it sure looks different than most years, I hope you can remember the reason for the season.

Baklava

2 packages of large phyllo dough, thawed overnight in the fridge

3 pounds melted ghee

1½ pounds pecans, chopped

4 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon orange blossom water (available at N&J Global Market, 5612 E. Lincoln)

Syrup

6 cups granulated sugar

4 cups water

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon orange blossom water

Method

Make syrup and ghee a day ahead of making baklava.

Ghee or Rendered Butter

To make ghee, or rendered butter, melt 4-5 pounds of butter and bring to a boil on medium-low heat. Turn the heat down to low, and cook until the whey (white part) of the butter has settled to the bottom of the pan. Ladle out the yellowish clear part – the rendered part of the butter –and discard the white whey.

Syrup

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, dissolve sugar in water and stir constantly until it comes to a full boil. Add lemon juice and place a candy thermometer in boiling syrup cooking until it reaches 235 degrees, “soft ball.” Remove from heat and add orange blossom water.

Baklava

Lightly brush melted ghee over the half-sheet pan. Measure the phyllo dough lengthwise to the pan and slice off the excess with a sharp paring knife (you can cut right through the plastic and dough). In an extra sheet pan, unroll the phyllo dough and cover with a barely damp paper towel long enough to cover the dough. Then add a clean kitchen towel over, preferably a flour sack towel. This step is important so the dough doesn’t dry out in between brushing the ghee on each layer.

Layer one sheet of phyllo onto the sheet pan. With a pastry brush, generously brush it gently with ghee. Repeat until the entire package of phyllo is used. This makes the bottom layer of the baklava.

Mix chopped nuts, sugar and orange blossom water in a bowl to combine. Spread evenly on top of phyllo bottom.

Repeat process with another package of phyllo dough, cut to size of the pan, layer sheets one-by-one and butter each layer. Refrigerate the pan of baklava for at least an hour to let the ghee harden and make it easier to cut.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Using a sharp paring knife and a clean metal yardstick as a guide, cut the first line from one corner across to the other corner, as if you were making the first line of an X. Continue parallel lines as thick as the yardstick for the entire sheet pan. Then turn the yardstick the opposite direction to make the other line to make an X.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until pastry is lightly golden. Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees for 30 minutes longer. Pour room temperature syrup over hot baklava. Wait until it’s completely cooled to cover, which sometimes takes overnight. Cover with wax paper and then with plastic wrap. Will keep for four weeks if stored properly. Serve in mini muffin papers.

This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 2:16 PM.