A twist on Baklava...

Here's a winner! I have told you all about the fruit trees we've found on our land so this past weekend and week I've been trying out tons of recipes with the apples and peaches we've picked. I was thinking last night that I wanted to make something different so when I looked in my freezer, I saw fillo/phyllo dough and immediately thought that combining the flavors of American Apple Pie and my family's Baklava recipe was the way to go. Everyone loved this new treat I came up with and it's so easy!

Avesta's Apple Baklava:

for apple filling:

4 cups fresh apples, peeled and cubed

1 teaspoon ground cardamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/4 cup honey

1 stick butter (sweet cream, unsalted)

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the butter, sugars and apples together on medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, slowly stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let the apple mixture simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the apples are soft. You should have a nice amount of sauce in the pan, this will become the "syrup" for you baklava later. Separate the apples from the syrup and set the syrup aside.

For the baklava nut mixture:

2 cups chopped walnuts

2 teaspoon ground cardamon

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Grind the ingredients in a food processor until well blended. If you want to have a chunkier nut mixture, use the pulse option instead on your processor so the nuts are not ground as much. For the Baklava:

1/2 package of defrosted fillo/phyllo dough

2 sticks melted butter (sweet cream, unsalted)

Nut mixture (recipe above)

Apple mixture (recipe above)

Spread some of the melted butter on the bottom of a baking dish with a pastry brush. Begin the first layer of the Baklava with three sheets of the fillo/phyllo dough then spread half of the apples and half of the nut mixture across the dough, then drizzle about 1/3 of the remaining melted butter on top. Top this with another 3 sheets of fillo/phyllo dough and top with the other half of the apples and nut mixture and 1/2 of the remaining melted butter. Top the second layer with 3 sheets of fillo/phyllo dough and cut your Baklava into whatever size pieces you want. Whenever you make Baklava, always make sure to cut it before baking it as it is much easier because once the fillo/phyllo dough bakes, it becomes crispy and breaks apart really easily which makes it hard to cut into even pieces. Once you've cut your Baklava, use the pastry brush to spread the rest of the melted butter on top. Bake the Baklava for about 45 minutes on 350 degrees. The Baklava is done once the dough is golden brown and crispy so keep an eye on it.

I served the Apple Baklava with vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled the apple syrup on top....talk about delicious! This seriously is the best of both worlds! YUM!Do you see the layers of goodness here? I served it while it was still warm but you can serve it cold or at room temperature and it will still be delicious! I also woke up this morning and had a piece for breakfast with my morning coffee...Oh my....so good!