Recipe for Greek Chocolate Baklava

Written by Greek Boston in Authentic Greek Food Recipes, Greek Desserts Recipes Comments Off on Recipe for Greek Chocolate Baklava

Baklava is a popular Greek dessert that includes layers of chopped nuts and phyllo and is topped with a syrup made from sugar or honey. Over the years, however, variations such as baklava made with chocolate have increased in popularity, especially in Greece. Bakeries add the chocolate in one of two ways – by making chocolate phyllo dough or by including chocolate in the filling. This version has plenty of chocolate in the filling.

Greek Chocolate Baklava Recipe Ingredients:

• Sticks of butter, as needed
• 1 pound phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts, such as walnuts or almonds
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Syrup:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup honey
• 3 cups water
• 1 cinnamon stick

Directions on How to Prepare Greek Chocolate Baklava:

Preheat oven to 325 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt one stick of butter in the microwave or in a medium saucepan. You could need up to 3 sticks of nutter for this recipe, but just melt the sticks as needed. You don’t need to have a heavy hand when brushing the phyllo with butter.

Brush a 9 x 13 baking dish on the bottom and all the sides with the butter using a pastry brush. Place 1 sheet of phyllo dough into the baking dish and brush with butter. Place a second pastry sheet on top of the first and butter again. Repeat until 6 layers of buttered pastry sheets have been built up.

To make the filling, mix the nuts, chocolate, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Sprinkle top pastry sheet thick with walnut mixture and place one sheet of phyllo on top of the mixture. Brush the sheet with melted butter, and then place another sheet of phyllo on top. Brush that sheet with butter, as well. Repeat in same manner until all ingredients have been used, ending with 6 pastry sheets.

Brush top with remaining butter and trim edges with sharp knife. Cut diagonal lines the length of the pan to make diamond shaped pieces. Sprinkle with water.

Bake in the center of the oven for about 1 hour or until golden.

While the baklava is baking, make the syrup. Add the sugar, water and cinnamon stick to a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer the syrup for about 10 minutes. Pour the hot syrup on top of the baklava right after it comes out of the oven. Let the baklava sit on the counter at room temperature until cooled completely. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting into small pieces.

Just before cutting, you can garnish the baklava with swirls of melted chocolate or a dusting of cocoa powder, if desired.

**Please Note:  Recommended cook times for GreekBoston.com Greek recipes vary depending on elevation, environmental conditions, the cookware being used, and the nature of the oven or stove. Although we have given approximations, these don’t always take into account your unique environment.

Categorized in: Authentic Greek Food Recipes, Greek Desserts Recipes

This post was written by Greek Boston