Ethnic Cooking Class "Baklava & Biscotti"

In the first few years of my marriage, I took an adult class at Napa Valley College called Ethnic Cooking.   It was so much fun, we had different local guest instructors, Mrs. Virginia Parras taught us how to make Baklava, and Vicky Altamura taught us how to make Biscotti.  

Baklava - Greek Night

1 lb. filo dough (found in the frozen food section

4 cups finely chopped walnuts

1 pound butter

Syrup:

1 1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 water

2 sticks cinnamon 

Butter a 9 x 13-inch pan.  Taking 3 layer of filo dough, spread over the bottom of the pan.  Butter the top of the filo, sprinkle 3 -4 tablespoons of the chopped walnuts oases the top.  Cover the first layer with 3 more sheets of filo dough, butter the dough and sprinkle with 3-4 tablespoons of nuts.  

Repeat this process until about 20 layers are constructed. The top crust is constructed by layering 3-4 sheets of filo dough.  Cut into diamond shapes and bake until brown, about 30-40 minutes at 30 degrees.  

Syrup:  Boil sugar, honey, water, cinnamon for 10 minutes.  Cool syrup, then pour over baklava as soon as it is removed from the over.

Biscotti - Italian Night

In a large bowl combine:

5 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cut milk

1 cup oil

3 teaspoons anise seeds (whole)

9 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cup chopped almonds (optional)

6-7 cups flour (enough to make a soft dough)

On a greased cookie sheet, shape the dough into an oval 5 x 11 inches long.  Bake at 350 degrees until pale golden brown about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven ad cut into 1 inch slices.  arrange the slices on the cookie sheet and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly brown.  Cool and store in air tight container.

(optional decorations).  Melt chocolate and dip on edge or end into the chocolate, cool until the chocolate is hard then store in container.