Chocolate-Walnut Baklava Roll

Are you thinking about Christmas dinner at Aunt Martha's and wishing you could find something new to make for the holidays? Something that is delicious and different? Something that is easy, but looks impressive? Well, do I have the thing for you! Hmm, I just realized this sound a lot like an infomercial. I think now is when I tell you that this will also make you lose ten pounds, regrow all your hair, and become rich. Nah.

What I will say is that I think you will love this recipe if you enjoy baklava. Now don't be too hasty to say no. There is good baklava, and then there is really bad. Really bad tastes like math book pages gummed together with something that sort of tastes like honey but is so sweet you want to gag. Good baklava is nothing like that.

This take on the sweet Greek dessert is flaky layers of Fillo dough brushed with butter (lots and lots of butter) sprinkled with chocolate chips and walnuts, or you choice of nut. It is drizzled lightly with corn syrup and rolled up like a celebration log, then baked. The layers become crackling brittle and crunchy, held together by melted layers of chocolate and nuts. It is sweet, but not too sweet, tempered by the buttery crisp pastry layers. And it only looks hard. Plus, there are only a few ingredients!

For this recipe you will need:
3/4 cup melted butter
1 and 1/4 heaping cup of finely chopped walnuts (or nuts of your preference) 
12 ounces or one bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 a box of Filo Dough
3 Tbsp corn syrup
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside about one Tbsp of your nuts to garnish the top of the roll.

Place one sheet of Filo dough on a clean dish cloth, or a large sheet of parchment. Filo tears easily, but don't worry, you won't need but about half of the roll in one of the boxes. If one tears, put it to the side and try another. Brush all over with melted butter, and top with another sheet, butter this one also. This makes your base layer. Now sprinkle the second sheet with some nuts and chocolate. You can see that I started out kinda heavy above, but as the layers went on, I got more sparse (see pictures below). Drizzle with a tiny bit of syrup and then top with another sheet.

 Keep brushing with butter, sprinkling with chocolate and nuts, and drizzling with syrup, while adding more sheets. If your Filo seems brittle, cover it with a damp cloth to keep it from drying out as you go.

 Here you can see that I am almost to the last layer, and my sprinkling has gotten more sparse. You want at least 7-8 layers, so try to figure our how much to put on each sheet. It's not science ;). And when I say drizzle a little syrup, that's what I mean. Do you see the tiny lines that cross the Fillo below? That's enough. When everything gets hot and melts it is just an additional stickiness to keep the layers together.

 When you have used all your filling, take one edge of the towel and begin to slowly, and carefully, roll the dough up from the long side to long side.

 Keep going until it is completely rolled over into a log.

 You can see how the outer layer of Filo cracked a bit in the last two pictures. That's just fine! I brush the rolled log with the last remains of the butter and laid one last sheet over the top and tucked the sides in like tucking in a bed sheet. Place on your baking sheet covered with parchment.

 See the perfectly smooth top layer? Brush with butter and drizzle with any remaining syrup, then sprinkle with reserved nuts. Don't sprinkle any chips on for garnish, they either burn, or melt and run down. They just don't look purty!

Below you can see the end, showing all the layers and the gorgeous filling wanting to just burst out!

Toss the sheet in your 375 oven and bake for about 20 minutes, if the roll starts to brown too much you can cover with a sheet of foil. I was making family supper and forgot to check, so mine got a touch darker then usual. We really want it a deep golden, not quite brown.

The roll looks completely different than my normal run of desserts and is a favorite with all three of my boys.

 It turns out flaky with crisp layers, but is filled with ooey-gooey melted chocolate and the not-too-sweet chew of the walnuts.

 Look at that flaky pastry!

 If you are looking for something different to do for the holidays, or just something fun to try as a new dessert, this one is a winner. And if you like it, you now know how easy it is to make the traditional baklava with nuts and honey. 

What can you do with your leftover Fillo dough? Keep it in the freezer till you want to make a Greek Spanokapita (a spinach and feta cheese dish), or wrap an herb-crusted filet of salmon in it to make an elegant and tasty parcel. There are lots of things to do with Fillo, but start with this. Trust me, it's delicious!