Baklava

If you're looking for delicious holiday treat that only uses a pound of butter, then I have the perfect thing for you!

When the Husband first requested this a couple of years ago for a Christmastime treat, I asked my Mother-in-law what recipe she uses (this was a childhood favorite of my husband). She sent me a link to a recipe by Michael Symon - except(!), she uses a different recipe for the syrup - both of which are found below. I've made this with both walnuts and pistachios - pistachios are my favorite!

Enjoy!

Baklava

(Baklava recipe by Michael Symon. Baklava syrup recipe by Kathy Crapo)

Ingredients

For the Baklava:

• 1 pound pistachios and/or walnuts, coarsely ground, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
• 1 cup ground zwieback crackers or breadcrumbs
• 4 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• 40 or so sheets of Phyllo dough (thawed, if frozen)

For Baklava Syrup:

• 1/3 Cup Honey
• 1 Cup Water
• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• Dash of Vanilla
• Pinch of Salt

Directions

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Combine the nuts, cinnamon and ground crackers in a bowl.

Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with some of the butter. Layer 14 pieces of phyllo in the dish, brushing each piece with butter before adding the next (keep the remaining dough covered with a damp towel). Sprinkle a quarter of the nut mixture over the dough (about 1 Cup). Layer 5 pieces of phyllo on top, brushing each with butter before adding the next; sprinkle with another quarter of the nut mixture. Add 5 more phyllo pieces on top, brushing each with butter, then add another quarter of the nut mixture, 5 more pieces of phyllo with butter, and the remaining nuts.

Layer the remaining 11 pieces of phyllo on top of the nuts, brushing each with butter; brush the top piece with extra butter. Cut into the baklava to make strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Then make diagonal slices, about 1 1/2 inches apart, to create a diamond pattern. Bake until golden, about 1 hour.

Bring the sugar, honey and water to a boil and cook, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice, vanilla and salt and boil 2 more minutes, then let cool slightly.

Pour the syrup over the warm baklava; let soak, uncovered, at least 6 hours or overnight. Garnish with nuts.

Halloween Sweets - Skewered Eyeballs

This treat is pretty straightforward. I found the recipe on the internets, however, it didn't go as expected. I had to improvise and I think my way actually turned out better.

First you take about 12-18 plain donut holes and stick them onto forks (I used plastic halloween colored ones). Make sure you don't compromise the structural integrity of the donut hole when skewering (you don't want it to break apart in the next step). I put them in mugs to keep them from touching each other or a flat surface.

Then you take each forked donut and frost it lightly with white frosting. When they are all frosted, put them in the freezer so that the frosting hardens (about an hour or so).

When the frosting has set, melt some colored candy melts in a plastic resealable bag to make the irises (**note: this is not what I did, but I wish I had). Make sure all the air is out of the bag and then cut off a corner so you can squeeze out the candy. Make a round shape on each frosted donut. Have chocolate chip pupils ready to insert into the colored candy while it's still malleable. Put the donuts back into the freezer to set again if necessary.

The last step is to add the gore. Use red decorator frosting to add some bloody-ness to your eyeballs, freeze or refrigerate until they are served, and viola!

**The original recipe called for the use of white chocolate. It should be noted that I hate white chocolate, so when it didn't work out, I was not heartbroken. Anyways, I tried to melt the white chocolate in a saucepan and it immediately started to burn, so then I put it in a glass measuring cup to melt in the microwave. This worked and the chocolate was smooth and melty. I tried dunking the donut and the chocolate would not stick to it! After a couple tries the donut fell apart and the chocolate started to harden. So I put it back in the microwave and instead of melting it burned again. I tried melting it in a non-stick pan after that, but it was ruined and I had to throw it out. I cast around for a substitute and found some frosting, which quite frankly, is more appetizing anyway. I made my irises out of white chocolate that I had melted in small glass cups and then mixed in food coloring. This is not advised. The chocolate immediately started to seize up when the color was added. I was able to melt it in bags after that, but it was a total PITA to get it to stick to the donuts (I used a clean finger to shape the iris into a circle... I did a better job of this with the green). And it should be noted that I didn't add the pupils soon enough to the blue eyes and so I had to remelt the center of the blue white chocolate with the tip of a hot butterknife (I was cooking dinner at the time, so I just held the knife to the bottom of the cook pot I was using for about 10 seconds to heat it up).