CT Style Making Authentic Greek Baklava with Ryan Kristafer & Sarah Cody for Easter!

A cooled honey syrup poured over a hot out of the oven Baklava is the trick to flaky phyllo dough layers! Honey dripping Baklava for your Easter celebration is what was on the menu in The Bender Kitchen yesterday! What fun I had making this decadent dessert with Ryan Kristafer and Sarah Cody on CT Style. They were troopers diving into this foreign recipe with me and even though there was a lot going on they tackled it. The humor that filled the set from Ryan and Sarah as we scrambled to get thru all the steps of making the Baklava was undeniably my favorite part! The chemistry between all of us is priceless.

This rich dessert is made with layers of buttered phyllo dough, ground walnuts with cinnamon and cloves, baked and then a COOLED honey syrup is poured over the HOT Baklava right out of the oven! Did you notice the words I emphasized here? A completely cooled down, room temperature honey syrup is the trick to a flaky Baklava. The end is the most exciting part of making Baklava, pouring the cooled honey syrup over the hot Baklava when it comes out of the oven and hearing that sizzle!! You can see this first hand on my Traveling Epicurean FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/thetravelingepicurean/.

This recipe couldn’t be any more authentic coming from my dear friend Maria who’s many relatives still live in Greece on an island called Kalymnos. The honey Maria uses in her Baklava coming from Kalymnos has subtle hints of fresh herbs. Her relatives send her this amazing honey from Kalymnos where the bees are thriving off the wild herbs growing on the mountainside of this Greek island. I like to use wild flower honey in my Baklava but thats the beauty of this recipe, you can use your favorite whether its clove, wild flower or orange blossom honey.

Even though I don’t have relatives currently living in Greece my great grandmother, Louise, was born on the Greek Island of Crete. She met my great grandfather, who was from Italy, on the boat to Ellis Island when they were 15 years old. It’s wonderful to have such an incredible recipe as this Baklava to celebrate my heritage.

Greek Baklava, best when made the day before makes it perfect for holidays when there’s so much to prepare. It’s great to get one amazing dish out of the way. You will love how forgiving the phyllo dough is when you make your Baklava. The recipe is easier then you think!

You may want to make some scrumptious sides for your Easter dinner like Creamed Spinach or Creamed  Onions, Panzanella Salad or appetizers like New England Clam Chowder or a Mediterranean Layered Dip.