Baklava - A Greek Tradition

Baklava!  What a fun word to say!  Teen had a time giggling (as any 13 year old girl does, often!) as she said it over and over.  Add that with a 2 year old and 3 year spouting out "Baklava, Baklava" and you have a giggle fest over nothingness!
This dessert should be called "Food of the Gods".  Nuts layered with honey and pastry brushed with butter make this a heavenly bite!  And simply but WOW dish to present for company!  Simple enough to prepare with wrangling a fussy 2 year old, a whiny 3 year old and attempting to hold a conversation with out of town friends who were visiting for the day.
Trust me, the next grocery shopping trip, you should pick up some Fillo Dough.  You can find it in the freezer section near the frozen pie crusts and Cool  Whipped Topping. Then WOW your family!  Give your "Sweets" some sweet!

Baklava

1/2 of the pack of Fillo Dough (most packages contain 2 wrapped rolls, you just need one)
1 stick Butter melted
3 1/2 cups Walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Allspice
1 cup Sugar

Syrup:
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup Honey
2 Cups sugar
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tblspn  Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix together Walnuts, Cinnamon, Allspice, and Sugar in a bowl.  This will be layered in the Fillo dough.  Set aside. 
Into a 9x12 casserole dish, layer one sheet of Fillo Dough.  Brush with melted butter.  Add an additional 8 layers of Fillo dough, brushing each layer with melted Butter.
Remember, Fillo dough is very forgiving.  If a sheet tears while you are layering, no worries.  If you would like, you can place a damp towel over the sheets of dough waiting in the wings for butter.  This will keep them from getting dried out.
On top of the 8th buttered sheet of dough, sprinkle 1/3 of the Walnut sugar mixture. 
Continue with 4 more sheets of Fillo Dough, buttering in between each one.
Add another 1/3 of the Walnut mixture.
Top with 4 more sheets of Fillo Dough, brushing again with melted butter.
Sprinkle last portion of Walnut Sugar mixture.
Top with 2 sheets of Fillo Dough, brushing in between with melted butter.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

While dough is baking, make syrup.  Combine water, honey, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice in pot.  Bring to boil and reduce to simmer.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Turn off heat.

Once dough is cooked, remove from oven.  Allowing to cool for 5 minutes.  Cut Baklava with sharp knife.  Three cuts across the dough.  This is to allow the syrup to saturate throughout.  Pour syrup over all of the dough. 

Let sit for an hour before serving.  Delicious with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!

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