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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Faux Baklava aka Honey Pie


I went to a local Greek Festival a few weeks ago and since then I've had baklava on my mind.  Then my latest issues of Taste Of Home came in the mail with a picture of what appeared to be a baklava pie on the cover.  I knew I had to make this.  It was actually a Greek Honey Pie but it seems pretty baklava-ish to me and I'm assuming much easier.

So I made it.  I halved the recipe though so it was a mini Greek Honey Pie...

Mini Greek Honey Pie (based on Taste of Home's Recipe)-Makes 4 servings

1.5 cups of walnut pieces
1/8 cup brown sugar
a couple sprinkles of cinnamon
1/2 package of phyllo dough (from freezer section) thawed
3/4 of a stick of butter (I cut this down some from the original recipe)

Syrup-
a little more than 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract


I used a mini deep dish pizza pan to make this.  You  need something that's about half the size of a regular pie pan (like a small casserole dish).

-mix walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside
-brush pan with some melted butter
-layer 8 1/2 sheets (I cut the sheets in half since I was using a smaller dish) of phyllo dough (slightly larger than the pan so it hangs over the sides) and brush each one with butter
-then add 1/3 of the nut mixture
-then four more sheets of butter/phyllo dough
-then 1/3 of nuts
-4 sheets butter/phyllo
-the rest of the nuts
-8 sheets butter/phyllo
-then fold the hanging edges of phyllo into the center of the pan and put one last layer of butter
-cook at 350 for about 35-40 minutes
-to make syrup, mix the remaining ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until it boils, then let it simmer for 10 minutes
-pour the syrup over the warm pie and serve

This was delightful, although probably not the healthiest thing ever.

Do you have a Greek Festival in your city?
What's your favorite Greek food item?

4 comments:

fojoy said...

That pie looks amazing! Was it as simple as you thought?
Simple recipes, for me, usually consist of no more than 4 steps...
Greek food isn't my favourite, but most things are OK. I like hummous - now that is simple!

Anonymous said...

Do vampires like honey pie?

Gene Cobb said...

Baklava and Dracula rhyme. Coincidence, I think not. :-) These look good!

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

Oh my gosh! That looks soooo good! You did good!