OK, we all love a slice of good old American Apple Pie, somehow it makes us feel that we are eating a healthy dessert because of the apples. Yes, apples are healthier and nutrition wise better than a piece of chocolate cake. Yet if you are only counting calories, I bet you didn’t know that a piece of apple pie has about 356 calories and a good size piece of chocolate cake has 352 calories!
Now add the wonderful baklava nut blended with honey syrup and turn this apple pie into Baklava Apple Pie! Yes you are adding calories, but also nuts and honey which have some nutritional benefits. So if you love Apple Pie and you love the classic Baklava, then you will be in total heaven with this amazing dessert!
This recipe is not hard and the best part is that you can make the baklava nut mixture days or even 2 weeks in advance and store in an airtight container. You can also make the honey syrup and keep in the fridge for up to one month in advance. So the day you plan to make this pie, you only need to put together the ingredients for a basic apple pie.
Baklava Apple Pie
Prep time: 30 min
Cooking time: 60-75 min
Yield: 2 pies
Baklava filling ingredients
1 cup toasted hazelnuts
1 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 Tsp ground cloves Freshly
freshly grated nutmeg or 1 Tsp ground
Honey syrup
1 cup honey
1 cup raw sugar
1 & 1/2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 of an orange, juice squeezed, then drop in syrup
Basic apple pie filling ingredients
6-8 granny smith apples (peeled and cut in slices)
juice of one large lemon or 1/2 cup lemon juice
2 sticks of butter ( one stick sliced and cut in half)
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cups water
2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch ( add to water and stir to make a smooth liquid)
1 box pie shells ( 2 per box)
1 box phyllo pastry sheets
**A few tips: freeze butter while you peel you apples, it makes it a breeze to cut up. Have you ever had a recipe, especially drink recipes that call for superfine sugar? I have only been able to find it in small boxes from Domino sugar. The purpose of superfine sugar is to speed up the dissolving process so you don’t have a gritty feel from sugar that does not dissolve or melt quickly. I prefer raw sugar over white sugar because it is not stripped of all the nutrients like white sugar. So I make my own and all you need to do is put your white or raw sugar in your Cuisinart and pulse for about 30 seconds to create super fine sugar. It is that easy and this can be made in batches and stored like your regular sugar. It measures the same and it is great for iced tea, cheesecakes etc!
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Make nut mixture that day or prior to making the pie. Peel apples first and put in a bowl with the lemon juice, mix well so apples do not turn brown and they absorb the lemon. Granny Smith apples are preferred because they are tart and that balances the sweetness from the baklava filling. Add the butter pieces, vanilla, cinnamon and cornstarch mixture. Mix well set aside, then unroll the pie shells and place in two pie plates. crimp edges and place in the oven for 10 minutes.
Pulse the sugar to make super fine and then add nuts and spices and pulse until nuts are finely ground. Place honey syrup ingredients in a pot, stir often and heat until syrup come to a boil and turn off. Again this step can be made in advance and stored until you want to make the pie.
Melt the remaining stick of butter, unroll Phyllo and keep under plastic or a damp towel to keep from drying out. Remove pie shells from oven and fill with each with 1/2 of apple mixture, spread to edges of the pie. Pour the warm syrup over the Baklava nut mixture and mix well. Place a phyllo sheet over the apples and brush with melted butter. Repeat with 8 sheets, buttering after each piece, rotating the pie pan just a bit with each layer so you end up with a starburst of phyllo over apple filling.
Top the phyllo on each pie with half of the baklava nut filling and spread to the edges. Fold the phyllo up over the nut mixture and press down make sure you can see the edges of the pie crust. Brush the phyllo and edges of pie crust. Take the remaining phyllo and cut into strips and scatter on top of each pie. Spray with butter Pam and place in the oven for 60-75 minutes until golden brown. Let the pies sit for at least 1/2 hour then cut slices with a very sharp knife. The fusion of these two classic desserts is truly heaven on earth!
Enjoy,
Chef Steff
