I made this before I went on vacation... so mid December (amongst my cleaning out the cupboards and freezer), but it still sticks in my head as a nice holiday treat. I modified the recipe slightly so I used half the butter that was originally called for.
Baklava
1 lb. chopped nuts (I used a combination of almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts)
1 lb of phyllo dough
1/2 c butter, melted
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 tsp ground cloves
1/2 c slightly chopped cranberries
Syrup
1 c water
1 c sugar
1/2 c honey
2 T lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
Directions:
Lightly grease a 9x13 pan and preheat the oven to 350F.
Thaw the phyllo dough according to manufacturers directions. When thawed, roll out the dough and cover with a damp towel to keep from drying out.
Process the nuts until they are small even sized pieces. Combine with sugar, cranberries, cinnamon, and cloves. Separately melt the butter.
Place a sheet of phyllo dough into the pan and using a pastry brush, brush the phyllo sheet with melted butter. Repeat until there are 8 sheets on the bottom of the pan.
Spoon a thin layer of nut mixture to cover the bottom, then cover with 2-4 more sheets of phyllo, crushing each with butter. Continue to repeat the nut mixture and a few sheets of phyllo dough until the nut mixture is all used up. For the top layer, make it 8 sheets thick. If the sheets wrinkle, that is ok.
Cut into 24 equal sized squares using a sharp knife. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden brown, and edges appear slightly crisp.
While this is baking, make the syrup. Combine the cinnamon stick, sugar, lemon juice, honey, and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium low heat and let simmer for 7 minutes and slightly thickened. Remove the cinnamon stick and allow to cool.
Spoon the cooled syrup over the hot baklava and let cool for at lest 4 hours to set.
Enjoy! It's even better the next day.