Baklava

Ingredients:

• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts 
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions:

1. To make sauce, boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.  Cool in refrigerator until ready to use.  (Sauce can be made ahead of time.)
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
3. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon, tablespoon of sugar, and salt. 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.
4. Cut the baklava before you bake it. Use a sharp knife and cut to within a half inch FROM the bottom of the pan (so then when you pour the sauce into the cooled baklava, the sauce seeps into every layer of it, but doesn't sit at the bottom. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
5. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Cut pieces all the way to the bottom of the pan.  Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Notes: 

• I used 1.5x the amounts for the sauce.  It made them a bit messy, but they were really moist.
• I used 8.25 oz. walnuts, 4.5 oz. slivered almonds, 2.25 oz.  pecans.

Yield: 3 dozen

*recipe adapted from allrecipes.com