Easy Baklava

It's the month of Ramadan, and cooking is my only possible and joyful way to ease my day.
As a mother of two kids and a doctor as well, it is so hard to stay home  WITHOUT coffee! why without coffee? because we are fasting, all muslims are. We eat at nine p.m.

Anyway, back to the baklava.. An easy, quick and delish typical eastern dessert.

Ingredients

I used half this recipe for this pie dish.

• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts
• 1 cup butter,melted
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9 inch pie dish.
  2. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
  3. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
  4. Make syrup while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla .
  5.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.
  6. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon syrup over it ( syrup should be THICK). Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Enjoy!