Rolled Baklava

My husband had a birthday this month and as part of his birthday celebration I made him one of his favorite pastries, rolled baklava. The original recipe came from my cousin Connie who acquired it from a Greek coworker in New Jersey about 50 years ago. I’ve modified it somewhat. One of my favorite Greek cookbooks is The Complete Book of Greek Cooking: The Recipe Club of Saint Paul’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral. I came across an intriguing baklava recipe in the book which used zwieback biscuits in the filling. There is also a baklava recipe on the Food52 website that calls for graham crackers. I decided to give the graham cracker version a try and really liked the results. Allow about two hours to prepare the rolled baklava. They are a nice addition to a holiday dessert platter. The flavor improves as they age.

Rolled Baklava
1 packet from a box of filo dough
1 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1-1/2 cups sliced almonds
1-1/2 cups pecan halves
3 cinnamon graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom (or more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of fine salt

Syrup
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 cinnamon sticks
(orange flower water to taste is optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 3 half-sheet baking pans with parchment. Prepare your work surface (I like to use a large silpat mat to work on). Take 1 packet of filo out of the box and let it come to room temperature on your work surface while you are preparing the filling and syrup. Have the melted butter ready. Make the filling by combining all the ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until the filling is the consistency of slightly coarse breadcrumbs. Transfer to a bowl and set out on your work surface. Combine the syrup ingredients in a 4-quart pot and whisk to mix well. Set it on the burner but do not turn on the burner yet. Open the filo dough packet and lay it open flat. Place a slightly damp tea towel over the filo to keep it moist. Take one sheet of filo and lay it down horizontally on the silpat or work surface. Brush it with melted butter. Add a second sheet of filo over it and brush with melted butter. At the bottom edge of the filo closest to you sprinkle 4 tablespoons of filling so it forms a log. Tuck the sides of the filo in slightly and roll from the bottom edge of the filo over the filling. Roll two more times then slice the filo horizontally to separate the roll from the top portion of the filo. Cut the filled filo log into 4 pieces and gently place them on the baking sheet. Brush the filled filo logs with melted butter. Repeat the process until you have used up all the filling. Place about 20 baklava rolls per baking sheet. Turn on the burner to medium high heat for the pot with the syrup ingredients and bring to a boil. Stir often. Lower heat slightly and let the syrup simmer briskly for 15-20 minutes until the liquid is thicker and syrupy. Remove from burner. Bake the tray of baklava for 15 minutes until golden. Remove baking sheet from the oven and, using tongs, gently immerse 6 hot baklava logs in the syrup, turning to coat completely. Return them to the baking sheet. Repeat until all logs are coated in syrup, then transfer logs to a rack to cool. Repeat with the other two trays. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for about 1 week. Makes 60 baklava rolls.