Pecan Baklava for breakfast

This was my first ever attempt at Baklava, from Sofya's recipe here. After you read this post, go read hers and make it this very night. If you like cardamom, this is an emergency.

I only diverged from the recipe to use brown sugar rather than white because brown sugar goes with pecans. Pecans are what I had in the house. I roasted pecan halves in a pan in a 350F oven till they were a bit darker and had a pleasant nutty smell. It's probably not strictly necessary to do that, but pecans have a lot more flavor when well cooked. After they cooled a bit, I broke them into pieces by pressing on them with the flat side of my bench knife, which gives you fairly uniform small pieces and very little dust.

The dough gave me a bit of trouble, but I think it was a temperature problem and easily correctable. I did this all in one session after my kids were in bed. The next time I make this, I'll break it into short sessions--making the dough disks and toasting the pecans early, and then completing it at night.

The resulting crust is very tasty, layered without being flaky. I liked that it was firmer than phyllo and didn't shatter into tan confetti when bitten into. It holds its own, rather than being a neutral (boring) medium that's texture only. I've had rolled baklava at a Lebanese restaurant and I think this dough could probably be used that way, too.

The filling is delicious. The light brown sugar, cardamom, and maple blend together very well and none of them dominates the other. My cardamom wasn't as strong as freshly crushed, and I went easy on the maple syrup. It isn't sticky-gooey; I could pick it up with my fingers and put it back down again. Pecans are very meaty, rather than sweet like an almond or pistachio, and it's not overwhelmingly sweet overall. It wasn't crunchy but pleasantly chewy.

It's fabulous. But I have to confess the pecan version didn't immediately evoke exotic Azerbaijan. After the bliss glow faded, my first thought was, "damn, I haven't had real barbecue in forever." To my Texas palate, it tasted a lot like pecan pie, only with the clean aftertaste of cardamom rather than the vile chemical trail of corn syrup. It's like pecan pie traveled and got a life.

I had it for breakfast with Ethiopian coffee. After Thai curried vegetables for lunch, I had some more. Definitely a keeper.

Tip: Just before pouring the maple syrup, I ran a thin knife between all the diamonds, and again in the morning. I haven't had any trouble with the pastry breaking as it comes out of the pan.