Metaxas (Moroccan Baklava)
This is the recipe that led me to The Spice House. I was planning an 11 course Moroccan banquet, complete with music and belly dancer for my husband's birthday. This version of Baklava is common in North Africa. I needed several specailty spices, among them the Orange Flower Water and Rose Water. The Spice House had them all. Five years later, all my spices come from The Spice House!
Submitted by: Kathryn from Stockton, Ca
Yield: 30 servings
Preparation Instructions:
For the syrup, combine the sugar, water, orange and lemon rinds, cloves and cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes, to thicken syrup slightly. Remove from heat. Discard spices and rinds. Stir in honey and orange flower water. Cool to room temperature.
Combine nuts, sugar, ground cinnamon and rosewater.
Brush a 13x9x2-inch baking pan well with butter.
Separate 25 phyllo sheets from the package. Place under a smooth, damp towel to prevent the phyllo from drying out. Wrap remaining phyllo well and freeze for future use.
Place one phyllo sheet in buttered pan. Trim to fit. Brush generously with melted butter. Repeat procedure until there are 5 layers of buttered phyllo in the pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 nut mixture. Repeat this procedure two more times, ending with phyllo.
Drizzle any remaining butter over top. Bake in 350 degree oven 1 1/2 hours, or until golden brown. Remove baklava from oven. Using a sharp knife immediately cut long, diagonal lines from corner to corner, forming an "X" design. Follow these guidelines to cut baklava into serving-size diamonds. While still hot, pour cooled syrup over baklava. Let stand overnight before serving.
thespicehouse.com
The baking time is right, the temperature is NOT. The baking temp should be 300 degrees. To bake this at 350 for 90 minutes would ruin the dessert. I’ve made baklava hundreds of times- trust me! Otherwise, the flavor blending here is great!
Reviewed by Faker M/….Cutting the baklava before you bake it is a lot easier and leaves you with a cleaner looking piece/
the classic way to precut the pastry/pahxlava-which means trapezoid/ is to cut the boarders about 2cm(less than 1/2") around the sheet, with very sharp and long knife. Then divide the middle part in a half. Cut the remain parts the came way. The length of the row would be 4cm(1 1/2")
This recipe was a hit at our Gourmet supper club. I will definitely make it again. It was nice and sweet with a hint of rose and orange.
When I made it I found that I only needed 2 sticks of butter to get the phyllo sheets generously buttered and I had enough left over for a generous drizzle on the top.
Cutting the baklava before you bake it is a lot easier and leaves you with a cleaner looking piece.
Baking, however, only took 40 minutes! Thank goodness I checked or I’d have burnt the baklava to a crisp and with all those nuts it would have been an expensive toss.