I learned to make baklava in fourth grade, when I was in 4H and one of our mothers was a gourmet cook. In graduate school, I brought a pan in to my department and Muawia, our resident expert on all things seismological and all things sweet and baked, told me it was a little too sweet. He gave me an A-. I reduced the sugar and honey, tried again, and earned my A+.

Ingredients

1 lb. phyllo pastry (sheets)
1 cup butter, melted
4 cups walnuts (can be substituted with pecans)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Syrup
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick cinnamon
2-inch lemon peel
2-inch orange peel
3/4 cup honey

Instructions

Unless you make your own phyllo dough (in which case, I bow to you!), you will probably find it in the frozen food section of your store. There are two ways to defrost your phyllo dough so that you don't end up ripping it to shreds later: 1) defrost the whole box in the refrigerator for 24 hours or 2) defrost the whole box at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Both methods require planning. When your phyllo is sufficiently defrosted, remove it from the packaging and carefully unfold it to full sheet.