Easy Puff Pastry "Baklava"

 While flipping through this month's Cooking Light, we found this decadent recipe for Chocolate Baklava.  It looked really good, but we did not have the budget for the ingredients, nor the patience to use phyllo dough (They're delicate, dry out quickly, and require multiple layers - and we were craving a quick sweet treat)

So we were fortunate to be a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers program because this month, we received a complimentary package of Pepperidge Farms puff pastry sheets.  We decided to improvise on the recipe and use puff pastry sheets instead of phyllo dough and use more inexpensive nuts (rather than the pricier hazelnuts and macadamia nuts).  The result was an easy-to-make, fragrant and rich "baklava" that still tasted really good the following day. 

 

 Easy Puff Pastry "Baklava"

Ingredients (makes approximately 16 servings):

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup water

1-2 cinnamon sticks  

1 cup hazelnut spread

 1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

room-temperature unsalted butter (to grease the pan and dough)

1 puff pastry sheet, thawed 

 

 Directions:

 1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Combine honey, water, and cinnamon sticks in a pot on low.  Stir to dissolve honey.  Bring heat up to medium, allowing sauce to boil.  Cook for about 5 minutes then set aside. 

 

 3. Unfold pastry sheet and cut along the fold to make three strips.  Cut these strips into quarters.  In total, you will have 12 squares.  Place on a greased baking sheet.
4. Put hazelnut spread in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds.

5.  Add mixed nuts together in a bowl along with the ground cinnamon and salt.

 

 6.  Now for the layers!  Lightly grease each sheet with butter.  Add a layer of hazelnut spread (approximately 1 generous tablespoon), then cover generously with the chopped nuts mixture. 

 

 7. Add another puff pastry square, and then another layer of hazelnut and nuts.  Finally top with the final puff pastry layer.  This will make 4 "baklava towers".

8.  Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins.

 

 9.  Drizzle the honey syrup on top, cut into quarters, and serve. 

 

10.  If you have leftover crushed nuts mixture, you can layer them on top for extra crunch.

These Puff Pastry "Baklava" tasted as good as they look and were really easy to make.  The most amount of time was spent chopping the nuts and because they still tasted good the next day, can be made ahead of time for your next holiday party.