Baklava

Day 20: I don't make it often, but I keep phyllo pastry on hand (commercial, frozen) for those emergencies when nothing will do but baklava. The question was whether or not there were any walnuts in the freezer as well, although I could have used pecans (another staple) to make it even richer. Digging past pine nuts, the aforementioned pecans and hazelnuts, I found a 12-ounce bag of walnut pieces, just perfect for my 13 x 9 pan and half a box of phyllo. Baklava is so decadent, it's hard to believe how simple it is to make. You don't really even have to stick to a recipe, unless you're aiming for specific proportions. Just mix up some sugar with cinnamon and cloves, and stir in the walnut bits. Have lots of melted butter on hand, and coat the bottom of a pan before layering on the first two leaves of phyllo. After each two, brush butter on the pastry and add two more. Do this a couple of times until you have 6-8 leaves of phyllo on the first layer. Sprinkle on part of the walnut mixture, and then add another 6-8 sheets of phyllo. You'll want at least two layers of walnuts (I usually make three) before adding the last 6-8 phyllo leaves. Butter the top layer, and score the pastry into serving-sized pieces. Bake at 350 until golden brown. In the meantime, make a syrup of 1 part sugar, 1 part water, 1/2 part honey. Mix together, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Allow the syrup to cool a bit, although you'll want it to still be warm. When the pastry is done, let it cool for about 10 minutes before pouring the warm syrup over the top. Let it set for at least six hours so the syrup can soak into the phyllo. And then...enjoy!