I decided to try making baklava because I realized that I wasn't really sure how it was made, so I was intrigued. I've never worked with phyllo dough before, and although the recipe as a whole was easy, there were a few steps that added to the overall prep time, such as thawing the dough in the fridge overnight, then letting it warm up to room temperature for two hours, and freezing the assembled baklava so that it could be cut into pieces before baking. So, it's not exactly a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing to make, but now that I've made it and gone through the steps I have a better sense of how to plan ahead so it doesn't feel like it eats up too much time.
There are three layers of filling--which in this case consists of pistachios, cinnamon, sugar, and cardamom--surrounded by forty sheets of phyllo dough. Each sheet had to be brushed with butter as it was added to the stack; the recipe said to be careful not to overdo it with the butter, or else the final product would be too heavy and greasy. However, I was definitely overly conservative with the butter, and it ended up being a little too dry, although certainly healthier! Overall, though, the final product was yummy--it will be good with hot tea or coffee--but next time I'll let myself get a little wild with the butter :)
