Bourbon Maple Baklava

They had me at bourbon...

I went to the Dupont Pavilion  at the Indiana State Fair last week in search of some Burton's Maplewood Farm maple syrup for the Maple Syrup Contest that was this past Monday. The rules stated you had to use at least a quarter cup of maple syrup in your recipe. The contest was sponsored by Burton's Maplewood Farm but it wasn't required that you use their maple syrup.

Anyway, I figured it would be best to use the sponsor's maple syrup and I knew they had it available for sale in the Dupont Pavilion. As luck would have it, Burton's was doing a tasting that day. The representative explained the differences between Grade A and Grade B maple syrup, and also had some of their bourbon maple syrup to sample too.

Grade A is made from the sap obtained in early spring while Grade B is made from sap obtained later in the season. The Grade B is noticeably darker and has a deeper maple flavor. The bourbon maple syrup is syrup that has been aged in 7 year old Kentucky bourbon whiskey barrels. It was wonderful! It has a distinct bourbon flavor without actually having any bourbon in it.  I decided I would make baklava using the bourbon maple syrup as my contest entry.

Bourbon Maple Syrup

 

 

Bourbon Maple Baklava

 

1 lb phyllo dough

3 cups walnuts

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 sticks of butter, melted

1 cup water

1 cup bourbon maple syrup

1 cup sugar

 

Line a 13" X 9" pan with parchment paper and butter the parchment.

 

This just makes it easier to get your baklava out of your pan later.

 

Pulse walnuts and cinnamon together in a food processor until walnuts are coarsely ground. You can chop walnuts by hand and stir with cinnamon if you don't have a food processor.

 





Photo won't load the right way but this is how big the walnut pieces are.

 

Place a sheet of phyllo dough in the bottom of your pan and brush with melted butter. Top with another sheet of phyllo dough and repeat until you have 6 layers.

 

One sheet down; damp towel in the background is covering the rest of the phyllo dough.

 



Top with 1 cup of walnut mixture and shake it around your pan so all the phyllo is covered.

 

 

 

Repeat layering phyllo dough and walnuts two more times. Finish by topping with 10 layers of phyllo, then brush top generously with melted butter.

 

Cut through all layers with a sharp knife into bite size diamonds. I used a ruler and made my cuts 1.5" apart here...

 

 

 

Preheat oven to 330 degrees (yes, three hundred thirty) and bake for 50 minutes until tops are golden brown.

 

 

 

While baklava is baking, mix together water, maple syrup, and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes until slightly reduced. If you want to make traditional baklava you can use honey instead of maple syrup in this step and add a teaspoon of lemon juice.

 

Let baked baklava cool. Cool syrup too. Pour your syrup in a large measuring cup if you have one.

 

 

Run a sharp knife through the baked baklava again to make sure all the pieces are separated. Pour your syrup over the baklava letting it soak in all the spaces while coating the top of he pastry as you pour.

 

 

Let the baklava sit uncovered for at least 12 hours before serving. Here was my baklava, plated for competition.

 

 

 

The challenge to this competition was making a product that really tasted like maple syrup. In the end, I felt like you could sort of taste the maple syrup in my baklava but it really didn't hit your taste buds front and center.

 

I am really glad though that I used the Burton's maple syrup. The contest ended up being judged by Tim Burton's parents and these people really knew their maple syrup. They could taste all the subtle differences in the syrup and it was pretty amazing to hear what they were noticing. I was really happy with the quality of the open judging. I ended up with an honorable mention. There were multiple really amazing looking products where the comment was that they couldn't taste the maple syrup. The winner was a maple syrup bundt cake (congrats Robin!) that had maple syrup plus homemade maple syrup candies in it, plus I think there was maple syrup in the glaze. Second place was a carrot side dish with maple syrup and pecans. Third was a cheesecake with maple syrup and sweet potatoes.

 



 

I really enjoyed this contest. This was the first year for this contest but if Burton's sponsors it again next year, I already have an idea. Plus, I think they got me hooked on their maple syrup. If you're interested, they actually have a nice collection of recipes - including mixed drinks - on their website HERE. Look under "Kitchen Recipes" on the left for the recipes and "Maple Mixologist" for the drinks.

 

Fair ends tomorrow. This was my last contest this year so life will go back to "normal" next week :)