bogus but breathtaking baklava

I'm slowly summoning the motivation to tackle making real, authentic baklava. In the meantime, I've stumbled upon something that will suffice quite nicely. Yes, it will do just fine.


This is a less-delicate-but-still-darn-tasty, easy-way-out, prize-winning Betty Crocker recipe. I followed it pretty closely, but since it seems I always have to tweak something, tweak I did. I used a combination of pistachio nuts (a personal favorite) and glazed walnuts rather than just plain ol' walnuts. Since the walnuts were glazed, a reduced the sugar a bit. I also skipped out on the crumbled phyllo shells. I didn't have any, and although they would've made the bars more baklava-like, I didn't think they were essential to the flavor. So there. Oh, and I added more cinnamon in every component because cinnamon = love.


These are truly wonderful bars. I found it particularly difficult to take pictures of them because the smell was so alluring. In fact, and the grease on my camera is proof of this, I caved and ate a slab as I took these pictures. Butter, nuts, cinnamon, and honey--come on now. Tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing.


Baklava Bars
(adapted from here)

Cookie Base:
1 pouch sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
pinch of cinnamon :)

Filling:
1 cup glazed walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir nuts, sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt with fork until mixture is well-mixed and crumbly.
Sprinkle nut mixture evenly over partially-baked base. Bake 18 to 20 minutes longer or until golden brown.
For glaze, microwave honey, butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon uncovered until bubbly. Stir in vanilla. Drizzle honey mixture evenly over bars. Cool completely before cutting, about 2 hours (yeah, right--who can wait that long?).


I'm off to NYC this afternoon, for a weekend chock-full of eating, sight-seeing, eating, catching up with a couple of my very best friends, and eating. I hope to take lots of pictures, but I'm still not particularly comfortable breaking out the camera in restaurants (bad memories and all that...). Have a great weekend, folks!