Making Baklava with Kids

Making Baklava is easier than you think.  Here’s a fun way to explore the world with food with your child and a yummy baklava recipe.  

I wish we had enough money to take our children to Greece, but let’s be honest with 3 kids, one in college and the others 2 and 6 years old add to that a Hardworking Dad and a Stay at Home Mom we’ll probably never get the chance to afford that trip.  So we decided on the next best thing… we packed up our bags and headed to a local town that is known for it’s Greek Culture.  We took a trip to Tarpon Springs, Florida. 

Once we arrived at home, I asked my daughter which was her favorite from the trip and Baklava    was the first thing that came out of her mouth.  We decided to try our own attempt at making it.  First we gathered our ingredients together after printing off the recipes from All Recipes.  Then we watched a video of how to make it.  

Videos for how to make Baklava

• Greek Food About
• What’s This Food
• Baklava Recipe
• Elizabeth’s Greek Kitchen
• Alexanders’ Greek Kitchen

It’s simple process that truthfully my 6 year old was able to do most of the tasks herself.  It’s such a confidence boost to as she creates her own dishes.  Plus the whole time she’s reading and practicing math with measurements, LOVE IT.  The steps were simple… dough, butter,dough butter, then nuts, and again dough, Butter, just follow the recipe.  She even used the mixer to chop the nuts and I removed them so she would avoid the sharp edges.  I had three adult jobs to lay down the dough sheets, cut the diagonal lines to form the pieces and cook & pour the syrup with her assistance.

 

While it was baking we mixed together sugar, honey and vanilla to make the syrup that you pour over the pastry once it’s cooked.  You can see from the image above she couldn’t wait to pour the syrup over the baklava, it smelled so good!  This turned out to be a big hit at our house and was absolutely delicious. 

Truthfully I can’t wait to explore making more Greek Recipes with her.  We love making our own hummus together, again she helps with the blender.  The next one we want to try is this recipe for Feta and Spinach Couscous Patties.  What Greek dish is your favorite?  

How to join the fun!

• The only mandatory part is the dish, the rest is all up to you, we just thought it would be fun and more concrete to the kids as to why we are making a unusual dish.
• Cook a dish from Greece: The goal is to explore this country through FOOD and activities if you wish. Make a typical dish (sweet or savoury) from the country with the kids, take photos and have fun!
• Typical dishes: Gyros, Souvlaki, Spanakopita, Baklava.
• Print your passport: Click here to download, comes with space for a photo of the child with the dish. Here is a little cover for it if you wish 🙂
• Color a placemat: Once colored/painted or whatever other way you want to do this, you can laminate it or put it between clear contact paper to use it over and over. Great conversation piece for you and your kids. Click here to download it.
• Make a craft: you can make a country related craft with the kids [optional!]

• Fun fact: Santa Claus is Greek. St Nicholas was a rich Greek that used to donate his money to the poor.
• Share with us: Our Greek challenge starts on January 13th and will remain open for a year, so attach a link to your blog to enter the linky party or go to the comment section and post a photo together with what you did together with your child(ren).
• Pinterest: We will add your photos to a “Around the World in 12 Dishes” Pinterest Boards (one for the dishes, one for the crafts) you will be a great source of inspiration for everyone 🙂
• Are you a blogger? Let your fans know about the challenge and grab our cute lil’ button to share it on your blog.