Apricot Baklava

Apricot Baklava

Time: 2 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup raisins (light or dark)
• 1/4 cup apricot flavored white wine
• 1 1/2 cups dried apricots, pressed down
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon white wine (from raisins)
• 1 cup cashews (chopped roughly)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 20 filo pastry (buy frozen and thaw before using)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions

• 1 Warm 3/4 cup wine in saucepan and remove from heat
• 2 Add raisins and soak for 2 - 4 hours
• 3 Put apricots in saucepan and cover with water
• 4 Bring to boil and simmer for 40-45 minutes till very tender
• 5 Drain and reserve liquid if any left
• 6 Process apricots in food processor or mash till smooth
• 7 Put in large bowl
• 8 Add drained raisins, reserving the wine
• 9 Mix in white sugar, cinnamon, 1/2 tsp wine (from the raisins), vanilla, brown sugar
• 10 Allow to cool
• 11 Mix in cashews
• 12 Butter a 13X9X2 baking pan
• 13 Open filo sheets and cut to size of pan
• 14 Process one at a time keeping the rest covered
• 15 Brush butter on top of one sheet and place in pan
• 16 Repeat with 10 sheets one at a time and layer them in pan
• 17 Cover last sheet with apricot mixture
• 18 Cover with the next 10 filo sheets buttering each one as before
• 19 Slice through the top layers diagonally to create diamonds
• 20 Bake at 350 for 40 - 45 minutes till brown on top
• 21 Put on rack to cool before adding syrup
• 22 SYRUP
• 23 In saucepan mix honey, water, nectar (reserved from apricots), sugar, vanilla and wine (from the raisins)
• 24 Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes
• 25 Allow to cool completely
• 26 Drizzle on Baklava
• 27 Cover and cool for several hours
• 28 Best if cooled overnight

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