Choke Cherry Baklava from Sharon Zinker dishes as eaten around the world Holiday Dessert bake-off Christmas Special recipe. Best Misc dessert 2010 recipe.

Ingredients 

1 package phyllo dough

1 cup pistachios

1 cup walnuts

1 cup almonds

2 T sugar

1 t each clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon

½ t cardamom

½ t vanilla beans, scraped

arils of one pomegranate

1 stick unsalted butter

¼ cup canola oil

Syrup

2 cup sugar

1 ½ cup choke cherry juice

1 lemon, sliced thin

2 T honey

Method

Toast the nuts and chop them fine. Stir in the 2T sugar, the spices, and the vanilla bean seeds. 

Melt the butter and stir in the oil. Brush the butter mixture into a 9x13” pan. Working quickly, brush one sheet of phyllo with the butter, and top with another. 

Repeat 4 times until you have six sheets of buttered phyllo. Place in the pan. (some brands of phyllo will fit exactly, some are twice as big as the pan. Fold the big ones in half, using only three sheets)

Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the nut mixture and 1/4 cup of the pomegranate. 

Continue this procedure 5 more times, and then top with six layers of the buttered phyllo sheets. Reserve ½ cup of the pomegranate.

Score the top of the baklava into 2” diamonds. 

Bake the baklava at 350 for ½ hour, then reduce heat to 300 and bake 45 minutes longer until golden brown on top.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. Combine the sugar, choke cherry juice and the sliced lemon in medium sized heavy bottom pot. Heat until the sugar dissolves. 

Attached a candy thermometer to side of pot and cook syrup until it reaches 220. 

Remove lemon and stir in honey. When baklava is baked and still hot, pour the warm syrup evenly over the top. 

Let cool completely and finish cutting through. Sprinkle with reserved pomegranate arils.