Tasty Planner - Recipe - Baklava by Samuel Mantravadi

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Combine and set aside nuts, 1/2 cup sugar, and cinnamon
Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the bottom and sides of a 10×14″ (about 1-2" deep) pan with melted butter.
Open the phyllo dough and layer 6 whole leafs (or 12 half leafs) in the pan, buttering each layer as you go.
Spread 1 cup of the walnut mixture.
Add 1/4 of chocolate chips if desired
If your phyllo dough comes in full sheets, cut the remaining phyllo dough in half.
Layer 8 half sheets — butter each layer.
Stagger sheets from corner to corner to cover the whole pan.
Spread 1 cup of the nut mixture and 1/4 chocolate chips (if desired)
Repeat 8 sheets and nut mixture twice.
You should end up with 4 layers of nuts, but this recipe is forigving if you don’t (and so are the tasters)
Layer the remaining half sheets on top — butter each layer.
Brush the top with the remaining butter.
Trim the edges off (if using whole sheets
Cut baklava 3/4 of the way down on diagonals (don’t cut from corner to corner, stagger the cuts).
Bake 1 hour or until golden brown on top
while baking mix 1 cup sugar, water, and lemon juice in a sauce pan.
Cook sauce over a medium heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, add honey and vanilla, stir until well blended.
Remove the baklava from the oven and finish cutting through the layers.
Pour the sauce over the hot baklava.
Cool. Let it sit for at least 4 hours (lightly covered — but not in the refrigerator) — 24 hours is best if you can wait
Drizzle top with hershey’s sypup if desired and chill in fridge so chocolate hardens