Ever wanted to make your own chocolate dream baklava with chocolate dusted pistachios layered with chocolate phyllo dough? Us too. So the R&D elves searched far and wide for a homemade chocolate Phyllo dough recipe. Since none could be found- one from Gemma Stafford of Bigger Bolder Baking fame was modified- thank you, Gemma!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsOokNxDTJI

Below are recipes for 10″ round phyllo sheets and also for the baklava- this one was made in two stages: stage 1 for the dough which was refrigerated. Stage 2 took place on the following day for the making of the Pistachio Cocoa Loco Baklava!

Homemade Chocolate Phyllo Dough

prep time: 2 hrs         rest time : 2hrs

Ingredients:

For the Dough

• 2 cups (284 g) bread flour
• ⅓ cup (75 ml) olive oil
• ¾ cup (180 ml) warm water
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• ½ teaspoon salt

For Rolling

• ½ cup (58 g) cornstarch
• ½ cup (58 g) cocoa powder (Our modification)
• ¼ cup (35 g) all-purpose flour

Instructions:

Make the Flour Mixture for Rolling

1. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch, cocoa powder and flour together. Set aside by your work surface.

Make the Dough

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour and olive oil. Using your fingers, rub the oil into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. In a measuring cup, combine the water, vinegar and salt. Pour in almost all the liquid, holding back a little just in case you don’t need it all. Mix until the dough comes together to form a ball. If needed, add a little more liquid to bring it together.
3. Transfer to a lightly floured surface (rolling mixture) and knead for about 10 minutes, adding a little flour if absolutely necessary to keep the dough from being too sticky. With the cocoa powder in the rolling mixture, your dough may look marbleized at first -don’t worry! Just keep kneading. Or put in stand mixer to knead. Wrap well and let rest at room temperature for two hours.

Roll the Dough

1. Divide the dough into 20 equal portions by first cutting the dough in half, then half each portion so you have 4 equal pieces. Divide each piece into five portions and roll each into a ball.
2. Keep five balls of dough out and the rest under a clean tea towel to stay moist. Let them rest there for 10 minutes.
3. Generously dust your work surface and a ball of dough with the flour mix. Roll the dough into a 5 inch (12 ½ cm) circle and dust with a bit more. Repeat with the remaining four balls of dough, stacking one on top of the other. Be sure to add flour in between the layers to stop them from sticking together. They will begin to look more and more chocolatey as you continue to roll them out.
4. Keeping the dough stacked, roll out to a circle about 8 inches (20 cm). Separate the layers, add more flour in between, restack and then roll out to a 10-12 inch circle (25-30 cm) based on the size of your round pan. The dough layers should be paper thin. Try to get them to your ideal size, so they fully cover the baking dish.
5. Carefully pull apart the layers, dust a touch more flour in between, restack and place the dough stack between two pieces of parchment paper and roll up. Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate while you finish rolling the rest of the dough in this same manner.
6. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, until ready to use. It can also be frozen for up to 4 weeks.

COCOA LOCO BAKLAVA RECIPE

Fits into 10” round baking dish

Ingredients:

For the Syrup:

• 2 cups (600g) granulated sugar
• 1 (500 ml) cup water
• juice of half a lemon
• ½ cup honey

The Pastry:

• 20 SHEETS chocolate phyllo dough- thawed and at room temperature
• ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups finely chopped Nichols Farms Cocoa Cookie No Shell Pistachios
• 1 cup finely chopped Nichols Farms Roasted with Sea Salt No Shell Pistachios

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 °F, 160 °C.

Make the Syrup:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice.
2. Stir together and bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and add the honey.
4. Stir together and set aside to cool completely.

Note: The syrup can be prepared up to a week ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.

Assemble the Baklava:

1. Grease the inside of a 12-inch round shallow baking dish with melted butter.
2. Bring out 10 of the refrigerated sheets of dough.
3. Layer 7 sheets of phyllo on the bottom, brushing each layer with the melted butter. If the sheets aren’t perfectly round, don’t worry! Fold them over where needed. This will be the base of the baklava.
4. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the crushed pistachio mixture evenly over the phyllo & butter base.
5. Bring out the remaining sheets of dough.
6. Add another layer of phyllo dough, brush with butter and repeat the pistachio sprinkle.
7. Do this with 6 sheets of dough to form the middle layer of the pastry. This will leave 7 sheets of phyllo for the top. Try to use the best piece of dough for the top layer.
8. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the pistachio mixture to add to the top of the baklava once it’s ready to serve.
9. Score the pastry into about 18 diamond shapes.
10. Bake the pastry on the center rack for about 1 hour and 20 minutes..
11. Pour the cooled syrup over the hot baklava and set aside overnight at room temperature. The syrup will absorb completely.