"Copenhagen" almond dessert with phyllo

Well, if you have already thought that (maybe) some of the Greek dishes (sweet or savoury) are or sound or look a bit weird.... what would you think about this recipe?- which probably is going to confuse you even more... How come this traditional Greek dessert has such a name?? Who would have the idea to call it after the name of Denmark's capital city and why?? Well, so far nobody really has found out and it has been known like this for ever! Maybe it was inspired from some delicious Danish type of pastries? It makes sense but we can't be sure. What we are sure about is that it was a very, very popular dessert in the '60s and usually was served along with vanilla ice cream. It was one of the children's favourite desserts. It is an almond based type of dessert, wrapped with crunchy phyllo sheets and then poured with syrup...

Ingredients (for 8-10 portions):
400gr. phyllo sheets pastry
1 tea-cup of butter
1 tea-cup of blanched almonds, finely ground
1 tea-cup of very fine breadcrumbs
1 level tsp of baking powder
½ level tsp of cinnamon powder
6 eggs, yolks separated from the whites
pinch of salt
1 tea-cup of sugar
3 tbsp of cognac (brandy)
1 lemon the juice and zest
¼ tsp of mastic, grounded (optional)

For the syrup:
1 tea-cup of water
2 tea-cups of sugar
1 tbsp of honey
½ a lemon, juice and zest
1 cinnamon stick
5-6 whole cloves
2-3 drops of mastic oil (extract) -(optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the egg yolks together with the sugar until they get pale in colour and creamy. Turn the speed in medium to low and, while keep beating, add the juice and the zest of the lemon, the cognac, the almonds, the breadcrumbs, the baking powder, the cinnamon powder and the mastic.

In another bowl beat the egg whites together with the salt into a very stiff meringue and then fold it into the almonds mixture, stirring very gently with a wooden spoon.

Grease with some butter an oven pan of 22x36cm and lay on the bottom ⅔ of the phyllo sheets (letting the excess phyllo hanging out of the sides of the pan), while generously brushing each one of them with melted butter. Empty the almonds filling on the phyllo sheets and bring the excess phyllo inwards to cover some of the filling.

Cover on top with the remaining phyllo sheets, again brushing each one with some butter as you go along laying them. Drizzle over with the remaining melted butter and using a pointy knife score the pie into strips, lengthwise, without cutting them all the way through. Finally drizzle on top with a few drops of water.

Put in the oven and bake for 50 minutes until is golden brown and has a nice crunchy top.

Take out of the oven and leave the "Copenhagen" to cool completely.

Put in a medium saucepan the water, the sugar, the honey, the juice and the zest of the lemon, the cinnamon stick and the cloves on medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon. From the moment they get to the boil let them simmer for 5 minutes, add the mastic extract, stir and take off the heat.

Using a ladle pour the hot syrup over the cold sweet making sure it goes everywhere. Leave the "Copenhagen" to stand for a few hours to soak up the syrup before cutting in square pieces and serve.