This Chocolate Baklava has phyllo sheets filled with nuts, spices and chocolate chips, and drenched with a decadent honey sauce. And finally, the pieces are either drizzled or fully coated with semi-sweet chocolate!
Baklava
When I was in middle school, one of my brothers was in the military and spent some time learning Middle Eastern languages. As he was learning, he was introduced to some delicious Middle Eastern foods, including Baklava.
My brother came to my middle school social studies class to talk about some of his schooling. And obviously he needed to teach us about delicious desserts that my class wouldn’t otherwise know about. So, my mom made Baklava for him to bring.
Chocolate Baklava
I thought Baklava was one of the tastiest things I had ever eaten. Until I had Chocolate Baklava, because I then discovered THAT was even tastier.
A couple of years ago, my friend Jenelle got married and had a stunning Greek Orthodox wedding. At the reception, there were tables upon tables of delicious food and dessert. She had what looked like little chocolate truffles. I picked one up and thought “this is amazing!”, but couldn’t place the taste. So, I ate 3-4 more until I realized it was chocolate baklava covered in chocolate. After that I lost count of how many I ate, and stuffed a few in my purse … you know … normal wedding guest activities. Sorry, Jenelle.
I decided I needed to recreate these tasty little confections at home. I tried a few times but had trouble getting the taste and coating I wanted. Finally, this year, I made it happen. Here are a few tips on making this Chocolate Baklava:
- Keep the baklava pieces in the freezer and take out just a few at a time for dipping. They hold together better for dipping when slightly frozen.
- If there are parts of the phyllo dough breaking off, remove them before dipping to help keep the chocolate in the pot smooth.
- If you are not experienced with dipping candy, or very picky about having perfectly smooth chocolate coating on each piece, you might consider melting half (or less) of the chocolate at a time and working in batches. If you use the same batch of melted chocolate for all of the pieces, you will end up with bits of baklava in the dipping bowl that will keep the final pieces from being smooth.
- You can use any combination of chopped nuts you desire, but walnuts, pistachios, and pecans are my personal favorite for this recipe. I do not care for peanuts in my baklava.
- I will usually dip half of the baklava pieces and drizzle chocolate over the remaining half as I like it both ways, and know some people prefer less chocolate. If you want to dip all of your baklava, you will need to double the amount of chocolate in the coating instructions below.
Chocolate Baklava
Ingredients
Baklava
- 1 cup butter
- 16 ounces frozen phyloo dough thawed
- 3 1/2 cup mixed chopped nuts pecans, walnuts, pistachios
- 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp orange juice
Decor and Dipping
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp shortening
Instructions
Baklava
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 baking dish.
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In a small bowl, melt butter. I use a microwave safe bowl, covered with a paper towel, and heat in 30 second increments, stirring after each increment.
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In a medium sized bowl, stir together chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
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Unfold thawed phyllo dough and cut in half so that you have stacks which are the size of the 9×13 dish.
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Lay 2 sheets in bottom of prepared dish, brush with melted butter. Repeat 3 more times so that stack is 8 sheets in thickness. Brush top sheet with butter.
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Sprinkle 3 tbsp of nut mixture over top of brushed sheet. Add 2 sheets, brush with butter, and sprinkle another 3 tbsp of mixture. Repeat until you have 8 sheets of phyllo dough left.
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For the final phyllo sheets, place two, then butter, and repeat until the remaining sheets have been used.
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Bake for 50 minutes.
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While phyllo is baking, add sugar, brown sugar and water to a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until sugars have melted. Then, add honey, lemon juice, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Stir well and reduce heat to a simmer. Let simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from heat.
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Once phyllo is finished baking, remove from oven. Immediately pour sugar mixture evenly over the top of the phyllo. Let sit, uncovered, until it has completely cooled (about 4 hours, I often leave it overnight).
Decor and Dip
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Once Baklava has finished cooling, cut into desired shapes and remove from pan. I like to drizzle about half of the Baklava and dip about half of the baklava. For the half I am going to dip, I place those pieces in the freezer for about 20 minutes. **See further notes in post above.
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In a double boiler over medium heat, melt chocolate and shortening. Stir frequently until smooth. Use a spoon to remove some chocolate, and drizzle over half of baklava. **See further notes in post above.
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For the remaining baklava that you want to dip, remove pieces from freezer, a few at a time, and use a fork to dip them into the chocolate mixture. Then place on wax paper or parchment paper to cool.
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this Chocolate Baklava, you might enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Buckeyes
Pavlova with Fresh Whipped Cream
Brown Butter Mud Hen Bars
Skillet Brookie
Salted Caramel Fudgy Brownies
Links to items used to make this recipe:
