Butter Rum
Baklava
"Phyllo dough rolled up with toasted walnuts & cashews, golden raisins, lightly spiced with cinnamon, brushed with salted butter, baked and finished with a blonde rum, honey simple syrup then drizzled with milk chocolate"

Ingredients
Short dowel rod about 1/2" thick for rolling
Small pastry brush
9"x13" baking dish
1- 16 ounce package phyllo dough, thawed
1 cup toasted walnuts (toast in skillet)
1 cup toasted cashews
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 ounces melted, salted butter (2.5 sticks)
Rum Simple Syrup
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup honey
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup Ernest Hemingway blonde rum or similar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Extra chopped nuts for topping
1 cup milk chocolate chips
Small pastry bag
#5 round tip
Directions
Preheat over 325F.
Place the nuts, raisins and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until finely ground but not powdered. Scrape into a bowl.
Place the Phyllo dough onto a clean surface, such as a pastry mat, lengthwise facing you. Starting at one end, spoon 1 tablespoon of the melted butter down the center evenly to the opposite end. Using your pastry brush, spread the butter out evenly all over the top. Sprinkle 5 tablespoons of the nut/raisin mixture evenly over the top. Place your dowel rod on the edge of the phyllo dough and roll up one sheet. Brush another sheet of the phyllo dough with butter, place the roll on the edge and roll up 2 more sheets together. Each roll will have 3 sheets of phyllo.
Press both ends together and scrunch the roll, then slide the roll off the dowel rod. Place the roll in the baking dish to fit tightly widthwise. Repeat until you have 8 rolls. Let the rolls sit for about 15 minutes for butter to harden, then slice each roll in half. Brush the tops of rolls with more butter, place in the center of the oven and bake until lightly golden. About 35 minutes.
Rum simple syrup
Note: Reserve some of the syrup for presentation if desired.
Add all ingredients to a sauce pan, bring to a boil for 3-4 minutes until syrupy. Remove and let cool.
As soon as the rolls are baked, remove and immediately pour the syrup, evenly over the tops and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Let cool completely for about an hour for the syrup to soak in.
Melt 1 cup of milk chocolate chips in the microwave for 2 minutes and stir until smooth. Let cool some, then spoon into the pastry bag. Spread the rolls out onto a clean surface, such as a cutting board or pastry mat and zig zag the chocolate onto the baklava rolls. Arrange onto a serving platter and place in the refrigerator for chocolate to harden. Sprinkle with more toasted nuts and drizzle with reserved syrup, if using.
Makes 16