Baklava

Baklava

(Greece)

makes about 36 pieces

I think the Greeks have a word for a cake that is perfection in taste and that word is Baklava, magnificent flaky little Phyllo cakes layered in chopped walnuts and drenched in a sublime honey/vanilla syrup. 

                                                                               Prep time:  30 minutes

                                                                               Bake time:  45 minutes

                                                                               Total time:   1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 package Phyllo dough
4 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1-½ stick butter, melted
2 cups honey
½ cups water
½ cups Sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract

garnish:

¼ cup finely chopped shelled pistachio nuts

Preparation

prepare the chopped walnut filling:

Place the whole, unshelled nuts in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the nuts are reduced to a fine chop.  Place the chopped nuts and the cinnamon in a large, resealable plastic bag and toss together until the cinnamon is evenly distributed. Set aside.

prepare the baking pan:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. If refrigerated, remove the phyllo dough package and allow the unopened phyllo to come to room temperature before attempting to use it, about 1 hour.  Most boxes of phyllo contain 2 wax paper packages of phyllo sheets; this recipe will only use 1 of these, so you may return the other to the box and to the refrigerator for later use. 

3. Open one of the packages and lay out the phyllo sheets flat on the work surface in front of you, remember phyllo dries out and soon becomes unusable so when working with the phyllo sheets, only remove those sheets you immediately need and keep the other sheets covered by wax paper and a damp cloth

.

4. Spray a 9x13x2-inch rectangular glass or metal baking pan with butter flavoured cooking spray or thoroughly butter it. Commercial sheets of phyllo will generally fit this size pan, if the sheets are significantly bigger trim them to fit with a sharp knife.

build the baklava:

1.  Lay 2 sheets of phyllo flat in the baking pan and thoroughly brush with some of the melted butter, press lightly into the pan. Repeat this process twice more to form the bottom layer of the baklava, in the end you’ll have six sheets of phyllo in the pan, three of the sheets buttered.

2.  Sprinkle enough of the chopped walnuts to thoroughly cover the phyllo.  Place two more sheets of phyllo on top of the walnuts and thoroughly brush with some more of the melted butter, pressing this layer lightly into the pan. Repeat this process until you are out of walnuts or until you have only 4 sheets of phyllo left.

3. Top the last nut covered layer with 4 more sheets of phyllo, buttering each sheet as you lay it on and pressing each layer lightly into the pan; ending with a buttered top. 

4.  Cut a diagonal diamond pattern in the baklava using a very sharp knife.

bake the baklava:

Bake the baklava in the middle of your preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the baklava is very golden brown.

prepare the baklava syrup:

Meanwhile, while the baklava is baking, combine the butter, honey, water, sugar, and vanilla in a medium sized saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to low to keep it warm.

combine the baklava with the syrup:

When the baklava has finished baking and is golden brown remove it from the oven and drizzle half the syrup evenly all over the top. Allow this portion of the syrup to be absorbed for a minute or two then drizzle on a little more until you think it’s thoroughly moistened. Allow the baklava to cool, uncovered, for several hours. 

service:

Once the baklava has cooled thoroughly retrace the diagonal cuts to insure the diamonds of baklava are separated.  Once you've done that carefully remove the individual diamonds of baklava from the pan garnished with the finely chopped pistachio nuts and serve.

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

(Saint Joseph's Cakes)

makes 12 Zeppole

(Italy)

                                                                                Prep time:  2 hours+

                                                                             Cook time: 1 hour

                                                                              Total Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

for ricotta cream filling:

 2 15- Ounce Containers Ricotta
1 1/2 Cups Confectioners’ Sugar
2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
2 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Candied Citron Or Orange peel

OR

for lighter cream filling

½ cup Ricotta

1/3 cup Confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 heaping tablespoons mini chocolate chips

1 pint heavy cream

OR

for the custard filling:

     4 eggs

     2 ounces granulated sugar

     1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

     1 quart milk

     1 tablespoon vanilla

     zest from one orange

      zest from  one lemon 

profiterole dough: 

    1 cup Water
    1 stick (8 tablespoons) Unsalted Butter
    1 teaspoon Salt
    1 cup Unbleached Flour
    4 large Eggs
    if using fried version vegetable oil for frying

garnish:

candied cherries – cut in half for garnish
2 tablespoons chopped unsalted pistachios for garnish (optional)
confectioners’ sugar

Preparation

ricotta cream filling:

Place a large sieve or colander in a large bowl, line with cheese cloth and place the Ricotta in.  Allow some of the whey to drain off the Ricotta, for about 20 minutes.

Whisk together the ricotta, sugar and vanilla in a medium sized bowl until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and candied fruit, if the filling looks too thick to pipe add a little milk to thin it out. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

OR

lighter cream filling:

Whisk together the ricotta, sugar and vanilla in a medium sized bowl until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and candied fruit, if the filling looks too thick to pipe add a little milk to thin it out.  Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Start with cold (directly from the frig) heavy cream and place the cream in a bowl and, with a hand or stand mixer, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.  Don’t whip too much or you’ll end up with butter.

Gently fold the Ricotta cream, one tablespoon at a time, into the whipped cream until all the ricotta cream has been incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Go on to create the dough.

OR

custard filling:

Prepare the pastry filling by pouring the milk into a saucepan, add the lemon and orange zest and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks in a bowl with the sugar until combine, add the flour while whisking continuously.

Once the milk begins to boil, remove it from the heat and slowly add the egg mixture, whisking constantly. The resulting mixture should be soft and creamy.

Return the mixture to the stove over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes fairly dense, it is now custard.

Transfer the custard to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap insuring that the plastic wrap is in contact with the surface of the custard so that a film doesn't form on the surface of the custard.  Allow the custard to cool thoroughly.

While you wait for the cream to cool, prepare the dough.

the profiterole dough: 

Bring the water, the butter and the salt to a boil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Remove the liquid from the heat and add the flour stirring well with a wooden spoon until the flour is completely incorporated.

Return the saucepan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly until it pulls away from the sides of the pan and is slightly shiny, about 3 minutes; you’re basically making a  profiterole dough.

With a rubber spatula, scrape the dough into a large bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beat the dough continually until smooth, about 2 minutes.

non-frying method:

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a very large star tip with the Zeppole dough.

Lightly grease a rimmed cookie sheet with extra-virgin olive oil and, using the pastry bag, form 12 4-inch ovals of dough over the surface of the cookie sheet until you have used all the batter (use additional lightly greased rimmed cookie sheets if necessary).

Preheat the oven to 425° F.  Once the oven reaches temperature, place the cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake until they turn golden brown, about 15 minutes.  After this first baking lower your oven temperature to 325° F, without opening the oven door, and bake for an additional 25 minutes.  After this second baking turn off the oven and if you are going to fill the Zeppole, remove the puffs and cut each in half horizontally, return to the cookie sheet and return it to the hot oven for 20 minutes. 

Once the fritters are cool enough to handle fill a pastry bag with the pastry cream/custard and fill the lower half of each split puff with the cream/custard, add the tops and decorate each Zeppole with a little cream/custard topped by a cherry on top or if you haven’t split the Zeppole, top each Zeppole with the cream/custard topped by a cherry.

Sprinkle each Zeppole with powdered sugar, sprinkle with chopped pistachios and serve.

traditional frying alternative:

To create the traditional fried fritters cut 12 4-in squares of parchment paper and grease one side of the squares with extra virgin olive oil.  Then, using the filled pastry bag, form an oval ring of dough on each parchment square until you have used all the batter.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a very large star tip with the Zeppole dough.

Fill a tall pot with about 5-inches of frying oil and place the pot over high heat.  When the oil comes to 375° F. on a candy thermometer  place the 2 or 3 of the fritters in the oil, parchment squares and all, remove the squares with a pair of tongs as the fritters begin to fry.  Frying more than 3 fritters at a time will cause the oil temperature to drop.  Once the fritters are golden brown, remove the fritters using a slotted spoon and place them to drain on paper towels.  When the oil temp comes back to temperature place 2 or 3 more fritters in the pot a fry them.  Continue in this manner until all the fritters have been fried. 

Once the fritters are cool enough to handle, if you are going to fill the Zeppole, cut each in half horizontally otherwise leave them as is.

Fill a pastry bag with the pastry cream/custard and fill the lower half of each split puff with the cream/custard, add the tops and decorate each Zeppole with a little cream/custard topped by a cherry on top or if you haven’t split the Zeppole, top each Zeppole with the cream/custard topped by a cherry. 

Sprinkle each Zeppole with powdered sugar, sprinkle with chopped pistachios and serve.