Recipe: Chocolava

Chocolava
rec.food.cooking/John Williamson/1996

1 pound phyllo dough, thawed if frozen
3 cups walnuts or almonds (I use walnuts)
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
2 tsp cinnamon
dash of ground cloves
1 1/2 cups butter

Syrup
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup water
Rind of 1 lemon
1/2 cup orange liqueur

Preheat oven to 375F. Generously butter a 13x9x2 inch baking pan.

Place the nuts in a food processor and chop finely. Place in a bowl, then chop chocolate and add to nuts. Add spices and mix well. Put aside.

Cut phyllo sheets to fit your pan. Cover stacks of leaves with a dampened towel to prevent drying out. Melt the butter.

Lay 2 sheets of dough in pan, brush with butter. Repeat 3-4 more times, until you have 8-10 sheets in pan. Then spread on a layer of nut mixture, about 1/4 of the total amount. Follow with 2 sheets of phyllo, butter, then 2 more sheets. Repeat another layer of nuts, then 4 layers phyllo with butter between sheets 2 and 3. Repeat nuts and phyllo layers twice more until all nut mixture is used up. Top layer should be a repeat of bottom 8-10 layers, with butter brushed on after every second sheet and on the top sheet.

With knife, push edges of phyllo down to neaten. Using sharp knife cut pastry into serving pieces. The traditional shape is diamond, using parallel lines about 1 1/2 inches apart. Mist the top with water and again 30 minutes later when in the oven. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. Remove and cool slightly.

Make the syrup; Place sugar, honey, water, and lemon rind in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Stirring, dissolve sugar, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and discard lemon rind. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then add liqueur, and stir.

Pour warm syrup over pastry. Allow pastry to sit overnight.