Accidental Baklava

I accidentally made baklava earlier this week. Here's what happenned. I had cut out a recipe out of the San Francisco Chronicle that I wanted to try to make. The recipe calls for 1 sheet of puff pastry dough (can you tell where this is going yet?). So I grabbed a box of puff pastry dough out of the freezer, took out one of the packages, and left it on the counter to defrost for 2 hours.

Flash forward two hours. I open up the package of puff pastry dough so I can roll it out as per the directions, and I realize that I defrosted a package of phyllo dough. DOH! Clearly I wasn't thinking as a package of phyllo dough looks completely different from a package of puff pastry dough. And unfortunately (or fortunately), phyllo dough does not refreeze well. So, I quickly go through my recipe books and find a use for my now defrosted phyllo dough in the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook... baklava!

This is a great recipe so only I made just a few minor adjustments to it. First, I used a mixture of Splenda and honey instead of straight up sugar as in the original recipe. I also halved the recipe so that Dean and I didn't have too much temptation lying around house.

ALMOND BAKLAVA

8 oz phyllo pastry sheets (thawed if previously frozen)
1 1/2 cups finely ground almond
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 cup honey

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Brush the bottom and sides of a 9 x 9 cake pan with melted butter.

3) Unroll the pastry sheets and cut in half crosswise. Cover with plastic wrap and damp cloth to keep the sheets from drying out too much.

4) In a large bowl, mix together the almonds, cinnamon, and allspice.

5) Place one sheet of phyllo dough on the cake pan. Brush lightly with melted butter. Repeat with 5 more layers phyllo sheets and butter.

6) Sprinkle one tablespoon of nut mixture over the cake. Cover with two layers of phyllo sheets and butter.

7) Repeat alternating the nuts, 2 phyllo sheets, and butter until you have only 6 sheets of phyllo left or you've used up all the nut mixture.

8) To top off, lay down 6 sheets of phyllo and butter.

9) Score surface to form 16 squares. Score each square diagonally to form 32 triangles.

10) Bake for 40 minutes or until golden.

11) Remove from oven to wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.

12) In a small saucepan over high heat, combine water, Splenda, and honey. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes.

13) Pour syrup over the baklava and let cool. Cut along the scored lines.

Makes 32 pieces.