Orange Chocolate Baklava

This recipe for baklava is by far the best that I have ever tasted. It is not super sweet but its packed with flavour from the orange glaze that the baklava gets smothered in.

Orange Chocolate Baklava

Ingredients

1 package frozen phyllo dough, thawed
1 1/4 cups butter, melted
1 pound finely chopped walnuts
1 package miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon grated orange peel

Syrup:
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

1.  Butter a cookie sheet. Layer eight sheets of phyllo dough in pan, brushing each layer with butter.
2. In a bowl, combine nuts, chocolate chips, sugar, cinnamon, lemon peel, and orange peel. Sprinkle 2 cups over top layer of phyllo.
3.  Layer and brush four sheets of dough with butter. Top with 2 more cups nut mixture. Layer and brush four more sheets of dough with butter; top with remaining nut mixture. Top with the remaining dough, brushing each sheet with butter. Drizzle any remaining butter over top.
4. Using a sharp knife, cut baklava into 1-1/2-in. diamonds. Bake at 325 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, combine the syrup ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Pour over warm baklava. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Panda Bread

I haven't posted in awhile so I wanted to make it pretty epic when I posted again. When I came across a video on YouTube about how to make bread that had a panda face hiding inside I could not pass up the opportunity to try it out. It is just too dang adorable. Mine came out pretty good for my first try I must say. It is pretty tasty bread. For the black parts of my panda I used cocoa powder instead of food colouring so it gave the bread a little extra sweetness here and there. I will definitely make this again and maybe even perhaps with another animal hiding inside. Here is how my panda turned out...

 He's kind of peeking out to the side...

The video on how to make this adorable panda bread is by yoyomax12. The video is here:  

Here is the recipe so you don't have to play and pause the video all the time:

Panda Bread

Ingredients 

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tbsp white granulated sugar

1 cup milk

1 egg yolk

3/4 tbsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 tbsp green tea powder mixed with 2 tsp hot water (or green paste food colouring)

3 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with 1 1/2 tsp hot water (or black paste food colouring)

2 1/4 tsp instant active dry yeast (1 envelope)

Directions

1. Mix milk and egg yolk together in a large bowl and place in microwave for 40 seconds until mixture feels very warm to the touch.
2. Add butter and blend
3. Add sugar, salt and yeast and mix together.
4. Blend in one cup of flour with a spoon or whisk.
5. Blend in second cup of flour with spoon, dough will pull away from sides, add a bit more flour until dough starts to come together. Knead into dough ball in bowl and then invert onto counter top and knead for at least 5-7 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic (adding a little bit of flour to counter top if sticking) You may not need the entire three cups of flour.
6. Divide dough as follows:
   
   First division: Divide white dough into three pieces two large and one small (small one about a third the size of the one of the other two large ones)
   Place one large plain dough ball in a greased bowl, turning dough to coat and cover.
   Knead in green food colouring into other large plain dough ball, this may take a while, be patient. (don't worry about over kneading bread dough, that isn't possible). Place in greased ball, turn to coat and cover.
   Knead black food colour into small dough ball. Place in greased ball, turn to coat and cover.
   Place all three covered bowls in a warm place to rise. I used my oven with just the oven light on inside. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
7. After the dough has risen divide the dough:
   
   Black dough : Cut into four equal pieces
   Green dough: Cut into two pieces, one piece twice as small as the large one.
   White dough: Cut into three pieces, two large, on small (one half the size of one of larger ones)
8. Assemble as per video. Place into a greased loaf pan and let rise again until doubled in size.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.