I wanted to do something for my birthday this year that was a little different. The lunch will be a rather straightforward menu of sushi … but the dessert I wanted something wonderful.
The fun thing about special desserts is to try new variations and I wanted this Baklava to be a bit more… zesty! No pun intended, there is plenty of zest (orange and lemon in the sauce) in this recipe already… but I wanted to play with the flavors. Traditionally, the most expanded Baklava recipe will add cinnamon, cloves and allspice to the mixture of nut filling… but that leaves out some delicious possibilities.
Something exciting happens to the Baklava nut filling when you add to the previous basic spices… a little ginger, mace, nutmeg and — my favorite — cardamon. I kept the ‘sauce’ stayed much the same process... but with the addition of honey brandy to replace some of the liquid… yum!
Isn’t this much better than a plane ol’ birthday cake?
Roger