Baklava

This recipe comes from one of the best kind of cookbooks - an old church cookbook - published in 1957.  It's a cookbook that my dad's great Aunt helped put together and one that his mom & great aunt often used when cooking and baking Greek foods.

Baklava
2 1/2 sticks butter, clarified (melted on the stove, with the foam skimmed off the top)
1 lb chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
~1 lb phyllo dough

Combine walnuts and spices in a large bowl and mix.  Brush bottom of a 9x9 pan with butter, and then lay one pastry sheet down.  Brush with butter, and repeat until there are 4 layers of phyllo.  You'll have to trim the sheets to fit.  Add a thin layer of the walnut/spice mixture, then add a layer of phyllo and brush with butter.  Keep repeating a think layer of walnuts & 1 sheet of phyllo until the walnut mixture runs out, then finish with 4 sheets of phyllo with butter brushed on each.  Slice into diamond shapes before baking: slice into ~5 rows, then cut diagonally down each row.  Bake at 325 for 45-50 minutes, until top is brown.

Vanilla Bean Honey Syrup
1 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 honey
1 cinnamon stick
vanilla bean seeds from 1 vanilla bean
(you can also add the scraped vanilla bean to the mixture and remove with the cinnamon stick)

While baklava is baking, make the syrup.  Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and let simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove cinnamon stick, and pour over the baklava when you take  it out of the oven.

Syrup recipe adapted from How Sweet Eats

Cinnamon Sugared Almonds

You know those nuts they sell from carts that have such an amazing aroma you can smell them from almost a mile away?  These are those nuts.

Just a few simple ingredients that you'll likely have on hand, and you can have your whole house filled with that delicious scent in 20 minutes.  Even easier?  Use your crockpot!

Cinnamon Sugared Almonds in the Crockpot


1 1/4 cups sugar
2 TBSP + 1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups almonds (should be a 1 lb bag)

Whisk egg white and vanilla in a large bowl.  In another bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Add the almonds to the egg white mixture and toss to coat.  Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the almonds and  stir gently to coat.  Generously coat the inside of the crockpot with cooking spray and pour the nuts in.  Cook on high for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.

Adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

Cranberry Bread with Pecans

Fresh cranberries are very deceiving.  They are a beautiful bright red color & wonderfully fragrant.  However, one bite of a fresh cranberry will pucker your mouth right up.  When mixed with some sugar, flour & buttermilk, those tart little cranberries can bake up into a delicious loaf.

The buttermilk is the key to this tender quick bread, along with the orange zest, & the toasted pecans add a nice crunch on top.

Cranberry Nut Bread
recipe from Baking Illustrated


1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter, melted & cooled
1 egg, beaten
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup toasted pecans

Mix flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda, & salt in a large bowl and set aside.  Combine orange zest, juice, buttermilk, butter, egg, and vanilla in a small bowl.  Add dry ingredients to wet and mix with spatula just until moistened.  Add cranberries & pecans* being careful not to over mix.  Pour into a greased 9x5 pan.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes.  Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan.

*I did not mix the pecans into the batter, but sprinkled them on top of the loaf before baking.