Matzo Baklava

I know… its might be hard to believe that there could be such a delicious wonderful thing to make with matzo..I do love matzo though & have no issue with eating it 1000 ways..my fav being fried matzo….but this baklava is AMAZING!

The recipe is from Canadian Living Magazine April 2002 issue. I have made it several times & it is always a hit.

It is really simple to make, just layering softened matzo & a mixture of ground nuts, then this is baked…. & a boiled syrup if poured over…& finally melted honey is drizzled on once the baklava is cooled. It can stored for up to 2 days the recipe says.

The method is a bit long but don’t let that deter you….it is worth it. You can make this parve using parve margarine or dairy using butter. I did not have any margarine so I used butter….

NOTE: the top piece of matzo is coming off.. so I think that the best way to serve this is to cut it into pieces & put into paper muffin cups, that way if your top piece does fall off it will still be easy to eat!

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

Baklava

3 cups walnuts

3 cups blanched almonds

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 box matzo.. *** I used 8 matzo boards

1 cup margarine or butter *** I used butter making this dairy

Syrup

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1/4 cup honey

2 strips of lemon peel

2 tbsp lemon juice

Topping

1/4 cup honey

 

Method

Preheat oven to

one 9×13 baking dish, one baking sheet   You will need a pasty brush …

1. Grease the baking dish with the margarine/butter & set aside
2. Put all of the nuts on the baking sheet & roast in a 350f oven for about 12 minutes
3. Take the nuts out of the oven & let cool briefly
4. Using your food processor, finely chop the nuts in 2 batches adding the sugar & cinnamon to one of the batches. Put the chopped nuts into a bowl & mix it well so that the sugar/cinnamon is evenly distributed.. Set aside
5. Melt the margarine or butter, set aside
6. Now, you have to soak the matzo but you are going to do this in stages…just a few boards at a time. Put some water into a pan that is big enough to put a whole sheet of matzo in to soak… I used a foil baking dish,,, & put 3 matzo boards in for a few seconds until they became softened…if you leave it in too long its fine, they will just  break…now take the softened sheets out of the water, carefully, & put them onto a tea towel…then dry them off.
7. Lay 2 boards into the baking dish & break up the third one to fill in the empty spaces in the pan
8. Take your pasty brush & generously brush the margarine/butter all over the matzo
9. Spread 1/3 of the chopped nuts on top of the matzo
10. You are going to repeat # 6, 7, 8 & 9 again, & then again ending with a layer of matzo. So a total of 3 nut layers & 3 matzo layers
11. Brush the top layer of matzo with the margarine/butter
12. Bake in a preheated 350f oven for 30 minutes
13. While the baklava is baking, at about 25 minutes in to the total baking time, make the syrup
14. In a medium size pot, put the sugar, water, honey, lemon peel & lemon juice in & bring to a boil over medium heat…stirring often.. we want the sugar to dissolve. Once it has, then boil the syrup for 1 minute. Remove the lemon peel
15. When the baklava is finished baking, remove it from the oven & put the baking dish on a cooling rack. Using a sharp knife & oven mitts…you can use a serrated knife…cut the baklava into pieces…depending on how big you want the pieces to be… the recipe recommends 24 pieces.
16. Pour the hot syrup all over the top of the baklava
17. Let cool
18. Heat the honey & drizzle it all over the top of the baklava before serving…or eating if you aren’t serving it!!!

The recipe says that it keeps for 2 days…

Enjoy!