Recipe - Hazelnut Fig Baklava

HONEY SYRUP 1 One half cup honey
Three fourths cup Water
1 One half teaspoon Grated orange zest
1 One half tablespoon Fresh lemon juice

FILLING
1/3 cup Fresh orange juice
9 Calamyrna figs; (9 ounces)
cut into 1/4" pieces
3 cup Coarsely ground toasted
skinned hazelnuts
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Cardamom
1 cup Unsalted butter; melted
1 pack Phyllo dough (1 pound);
thawed if frozen

1. Honey Syrup: in medium saucepan, bring to a boil honey, water and zest.
Reduce heat to low, simmer 20 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 2
cups. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice. Let cool.

2. Filling: Meanwhile in large bowl, combine orange juice and figs. Let
stand 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until figs have absorbed juice.
Add remaining filling ingredients.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Brush 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan with
some melted butter. Unroll phyllo, cut in half crosswise. Keep covered with
waxed paper and damp towel while working with sheets. Place 1 sheet phyllo
in bottom of buttered pan; brush with butter. Repeat with 9 more sheets
phyllo, brushing each layer with butter and stacking in pan. Scatter with
One half cup nut mixture over top of phyllo.

4. Top with 2 sheets phyllo , buttering each. Repeat layers of One half cup nut
mixture and 2 sheets buttered phyllo until nut mixture is used up (about 9
more layers.)

5. Finish top of baklava with 5 sheets buttered phyllo. With knife, cut
phyllo layers crosswise into 6 (2 inch wide) strips. Cut each strip on
diagonal to form 4 equal "diamonds" (you'll have a small triangle at ends
of each strip.)

6. Bake 1 hour or until light golden and crisp. Remove baking pan to wire
rack; from saucepan spoon over cooled honey syrup over top. Let cool at
least 1 hour.

McCall's Magazine October 1998 p. 150 Article titled: "Honey Bunch" Recipes
by Gina Noonan and Frank P. Melodia
Recipe by: McCall's Magazine October 1998 p. 150

Posted to JEWISHFOOD digest by Linda Shapiro lss@coconet.com on Sep 22,
1998, converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.