Making traditional baklava is a tedious task that requires layering buttered filo dough with chopped nuts and sugary syrup.
Yet somehow, the end result of biting into a baked square is light and decadent all at once. The flaky filo tickles your lips; the honey coats your tongue. And if you don't secretly sigh with pleasure, you're doing it wrong.
Anne BralyFortunately, you won't have to travel to Greece to get your fix. The women, plus a few men, of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church will have baklava, along with many more savory and sweet confections, waiting for you as the doors open for the Greek Pastry Sale Friday at 8 a.m.
The Ladies of Philoptochos, a nonprofit organization that locally supports a number of charities, are hosting the sale and have been busy for months preparing all the sweet and savory treats that await your palate. This year, the sale will feature:
* Almond cakes
* Amygdalota
* Baklava
* Finikia
* Kataifee
* Koulourakia
* Kourambiethes
* Pastitsio
* Sfeeha
* Sweet bread
* Paximathia
Also, spanakopita, tiropita pockets and paximathia, a Greek-style biscotti that is wonderful with coffee, tea or wine, were introduced last year and were so popular, they are returning.
"Since we sold out of spanakopita before noon, we have made more this year and have frozen ones to take home and bake available to sell, too," says sale chairwoman Thea Ballas.
"Last year, the smell of the freshly baked pockets permeated the hall," she adds.
So follow your nose and get there early. The sale ends at 4 p.m. but if you wait too late, you might be out of luck. When everything is sold, the sale closes down.
For more information, call 423-629-2364 or log onto www.annunciationchatt.org.
Off the bookshelf
Martha Stewart's passion for cooking and design shows in the pages of her new cookbook - a must-have for anyone who loves making appetizers and is always on the hunt for something new and different. Your search ends here, with the addition of "Martha Stewart's Appetizers" (Clarkson Potter, $32) to your culinary library.
There are cookbooks that do nothing more than make you flip quickly through pages and end up with nothing new or inspirational. And then there are cookbooks that make you want to get into the kitchen and cook. This is one of those.
Stewart takes something as common - and frankly, outdated - as pigs in a blanket and makes them squeal with flavors and texture by using andouille sausages and puff pastry encrusted with poppy seeds.
Or try the following recipe - one of her easiest. The little biscuits do double duty as a tasty appetizer to serve with a cold beer or as a companion to a hot bowl of chili. Either way, they'll be gobbled up quickly.
Mini Cheese Biscuits
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon paprika, plus more for dusting
6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese (6 ounces)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and paprika in a large bowl. Using pastry blender or your fingers, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal with a few larger clumps remaining. Stir in cheese with a fork. Add cream and stir until dough just comes together.
Scoop mounds of dough (about 2 teaspoons each), 1 1/2 inches apart, onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Lightly dust tops of each biscuit with paprika.
Bake until golden brown, rotating sheets halfway through baking, 15-20 minutes. Transfer biscuits (and parchment) onto wire baking racks to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes about 74 biscuits.
Contact Anne Braly at abraly@timesfreepress.com.