Missouri Apple Strudel Baklava

So I made this last night after reading encouraging things about phyllo dough at my sister-in-law's blog, Life Meets Food. I read several recipes and knew I had to use up a couple of very soft apples from the CSA...so here's what I did:

Ingredients (oven 350 degrees):
*half package phyllo dough (frozen then thawed, approximately 1/2 pound)
*3/4 c butter, melted (I did a full cup and had extra)
*2 c shredded peeled apples (it was two large apples plus half a third for me)
*1 c chopped black walnuts (see note below)
*2/3 c sugar
*1 tsp lemon zest (with my new zester! Yay!)
*2 Tbsp lemon juice
*dash lemon extract (but I like my lemon--I wouldn't make a special trip for this)
*1 Tbsp cinnamon
*1/2 cup or a bit more honey

Mix everything together, except phyllo dough, butter, and honey.

Lay 6 sheets of phyllo dough in the bottom of a buttered 9x13 pan, brushing each one with butter before placing the next one on top. My sheets were slightly longer than this but I let them curl up on the sides and sometimes pleated them in the middle.

Sprinkle half the apple mixture over phyllo in the pan. Top with 6 more sheets phyllow brushed with butter.

Sprinkle other half of apple mixture over phyllow. Top with remaining phyllo brushed with butter (there were more than 6, maybe 8 or 9 sheets?). Score into diamonds. Bake 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Warm honey to make it thin and pourable. Drizzle over baklava. Cool.

We had about a third of it already; the rest is going to the St. Pius fish fry this friday for my dessert contribution.

Note about Black Walnuts: That's why I'm calling this "Missouri" baklava--65% of black walnut harvesting comes from Missouri. Actually, the walnuts, apples, honey, and butter all came from local sources in my version.

Black walnuts are not the same thing as regular walnuts at all. They have an earthy fragrance and flavor and bring something new to the table. If you don't want to go with the black walnuts, I am confident a smoother nut flavor would be just fine (walnuts, pecans?). But I liked the way this worked. Sort of sharp and apple-cinnamon-autumnal feeling to it. You could definitely tell there were black walnuts.