Back to baking....

It's been a difficult few months, to put it mildly...I am struggling with a lot of things, and at this point of time, I cant say if the stress is going to get better, or if the struggle is going to cease any time soon...

But with every such phase in life, I become stronger, and understand myself better, and I believe thats a good life's lesson learnt :)

But let's not get all deep and serious, not when there's a weekend where I finally decide to reward myself with a happy break, and indulge in my favorite activity...baking.

I made Baklawa this weekend, which was to my surprise, quite a simple thing to do! The only part I didn't really care for was the cleaning up afterwards!!

Steps for making Baklawa:

Caramelized walnuts

My mom has, for some mom-ly reason unknown to me, hoarded walnuts. She also suddenly decided that the stock needs to deplete a bit, before all of them go bad. I always thought walnuts have a shelf life longer than the dinosaurs, but then we know it didn't workout too well for them.
Anyway, cutting a long story short, these nuts are now my responsibility, considering I insisted I deal with them.

The first of a few nutty recipes to come, and the simplest one yet, Caramelized Walnuts. I've always wanted to make these since I tasted them at my sister's place (read ate the whole bag). I love the caramelly-salty-nutty combination, and I added a small twist which makes them much more delightful than the store bought ones.

You will need:
1 cup of walnuts
1/4th cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1-2 teaspoons of rose water(This can be skipped, or substituted by another flavor. Coffee might taste really nice)

Add walnuts, sugar and rose water and toss in the pan. Put the mix on medium flame, continuously stirring and coating the walnuts until the sugar first melts and then turns into caramel.

Add the salt and keep tossing and stirring till walnuts become a rich golden brown color. Immediately remove from the heat and spread on a very lightly greased plate. Total cooking time is about 2-3 minutes.