Baklava

Every time I come across baklava I inevitably remember the Genie in Aladdin singing “How about a little more Baklavaaaaaa?”

Baklava is a dessert made of layers of flaky filo pastry filled with finely chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup. It is a common dessert of Iranian, Turkish and Arab cuisines, and it’s amazing.

Step by step recipe below and list of ingredients at the end of the post!

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C regular bake.

Place the pistachios, almonds, walnuts, sugar and cinnamon in a large food processor and process into a fine crumb.

Brush two to three sheets of filo with butter and layer them.

On the top layer of filo apply a thin layer of melted butter, then add a layer of the nut crumb mixture over the first two-thirds of the filo.

Beginning at the nut-covered end, roll up the filo tightly into a cylinder. Repeat until all the nut mixture is used.

Cut the cylinders into your desired length and place on a baking tray. If you want you can sprinkle the cut ends of your baklava with water to prevent it drying out too quickly during baking and also prick the baklava with a fork before baking, to help the syrup seep into it. Recipe then says to place a whole clove at the centre of every piece but I didn’t do this because I don’t love cloves.

Place the tray into the middle of your oven and cook until golden, about 20 minutes.

While the baklava is cooking, prepare the syrup. Place all the ingredients (sugar, water, lemon juice and zest, cinnamon quills and ground cloves – I used 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon instead of 2-3 cinnamon quills, and I replaced the cloves with 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg) in a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.

When the baklava is ready, pour the warm syrup over it while it is still hot. Spoon any excess syrup over the baklava until all the syrup is absorbed.

Baklava

Makes: 30 – 45 | Prep time: 25 mins | Cook time: 20 – 25 mins | Skill level: 2 (moderate)

Ingredients

Baklava

1 cup shelled pistachios
2 cups almonds
2 cups walnuts
1½ cups sugar
1½ tbsp ground cinnamon
1 x 375 g packet filo pastry
melted butter, for layering
whole cloves

Syrup

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
juice and zest of 2 lemons
2–3 cinnamon quills
1 heaped tbsp ground cloves

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C regular bake.

Place pistachios, almonds, walnuts, sugar and cinnamon in a large food processor and process into a fine crumb.

Brush two to three sheets of filo with butter and layer them. On the top layer of filo apply a thin layer of melted butter, then add a layer of nut crumb mixture over the first two-thirds of the filo. Beginning at the nut-covered end, roll up the filo tightly into a cylinder and place on a baking tray. Repeat until all the nut mixture is used.

Cut the cylinders into your desired length, and place a whole clove at the centre of every piece. Place the tray into the middle of your oven and cook until golden, about 20 minutes.

While the baklava is cooking, prepare the syrup. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.

When the baklava is ready, pour the warm syrup over it while it is still hot. Spoon any excess syrup over the baklava until all the syrup is absorbed.

Tips

Sprinkle the cut ends of your baklava with water to prevent it drying out too quickly during the baking process.

Prick the baklava with a fork before baking, to help the syrup seep into it.