Chocolate Drizzled Baklava

After submitting what I felt was a cheaters recipe to the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats last week, I knew I wanted to put much more effort into it for this week. I had saved this recipe from last year, never finding enough time to make it before the holiday season was over.

I recently watched an episode of Symon's Suppers where he prepared a baklava dish. I don't think I would have felt as comfortable making this, had I not seen the episode and saw just how much butter is really needed for this recipe.

I even cut down the butter and syrup from the initial recipe after making it the first time and finding it almost soggy.

We're now halfway through the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats! I can't believe how quickly time is going. Tom already has the countdown to Christmas sign up and the stores have lights and wreaths and ornaments. We've ordered our Christmas cards and I've been creating an Amazon wish list for weeks now, but I otherwise feel completely unprepared.

Chocolate-Drizzled Baklava
Source: Taste of Home magazine, October/November 2012
Servings: 3 dozen
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Ingredients:
Baklava:

1 cup pecans, minced
1 cup walnuts, minced
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. allspice
½ tsp. ground cloves
⅔ cup butter, melted
24 sheets phyllo dough, thawed

Syrup:

½ cup water
½ cup honey
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. vanilla
squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Chocolate:

6 oz. dark chocolate
1 tsp. coconut oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine the pecans, walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, allspice and cloves together in a medium bowl.
3. Roll out the phyllo dough and cover with a damp paper towel.
4. Brush some of the melted butter in a 9x13 baking dish.
5. Place two sheets of phyllo dough into the prepared baking dish. Brush with butter and repeat two times, so you have 6 sheets of phyllo dough in the dish with every other one buttered.
6. Sprinkle a layer of the pecan/walnut/sugar/spice mixture evenly on top of the buttered phyllo sheet.
7. Repeat step 5, using 6 more sheets of phyllo dough, then sprinkle with the nut mixture. Repeat again and then top with the remaining 6 sheets of phyllo dough buttering the top one.
8. Using a sharp knife, start at one corner and cut straight through to the other corner. Repeat from the other side, creating a large X in the dough. Then cut 1 ½" strips diagonally down both sides to create diamond shapes.
9. Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Meanwhile, combine the water, honey, sugar and cinnamon syrup ingredients into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Remove from the heat entirely and stir in the vanilla and lemon juice. Let cool until the baklava comes out of the oven.
12. Drizzle the syrup mixture over the baklava, cover and place on a wire rack to cool completely, overnight.
13. Add the chocolate and the coconut oil to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring after each until the mixture is melted and smooth. Transfer to a piping bag and drizzle over the chocolate.

I revised this recipe a little bit after making it the first time, cutting down on the nuts included, but I still think it was too much. If I make this again, I think I'd do a cinnamon/sugar/allspice/clove sprinkle on two of the 3 layers and just have the pecans and walnuts mixed in on the middle layer of it.

While these are time consuming because they need to sit, the physical work of preparing it is quite quick and they look really pretty for holiday parties.