Walnut and Cinnamon Baklawa

Mix the walnuts with 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup ghee, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon orange blossom water and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Grease a 9”x13” baking dish. Take one sheet of phyllo dough, fold it in half and place it in the baking dish. Brush the phyllo sheet with some of the remaining melted ghee. Repeat this process until half of the phyllo sheets are used. (Side note: place a damp towel over the unused phyllo sheets to prevent them from drying out.) Next, pour the nut mixture into the baking dish and spread evenly. Continue with the remaining phyllo sheets by folding one sheet, brushing with ghee and repeating until each sheet has been used. Pour the remaining ghee over the top of the baklawa.

Next, using a sharp knife, cut diagonally through the phyllo beginning in the left hand corner and cutting toward the right. Continue slicing in parallel lines about 1-1/2” apart on either side of the first cut. Then rotate the pan and slice rows about 2” wide. Bake the baklawa for 5 minutes at 400ºF and then turn the heat down to 300ºF and cook for another 50 minutes, or until phyllo is golden brown.

While baklawa is baking, prepare the sharbat by combining the remaining 2 cups sugar and the water in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir constantly for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Return to the burner until the mixture is boiling. Once the syrup boils, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons orange blossom water. Set aside to cool while the baklawa bakes.

Once the baklawa is ready, remove from the oven and spoon the sharbat evenly over the dish. Let set until cool and recut baklawa along the original lines all the way through.

Recipe adapted from www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes (“Celtnet Recipes”)