Baklava

4:19 PM | Labels: Bakery, Eggless, International, Sweets

BAKLAVA

Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of phyllo/filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of cuisines of Turkish tradition. I was craving for this dessert when we were expecting our first baby. No doubt my son simply loves it! Though the original recipes asks for many more layers of phyllo , since my kids are really young, I have made a slightly shorter version of the original baklava. I learnt this recipe from a Palestinian friend of mine during my Masters program in school. And lucky me! she got some baklavas for us when she had gone overseas for her summer vacations.

This is a very simple recipe and you can prepare this a day in advance ,if you have people coming over. Also the longer the syrup is soaked in my the phyllo layers, the richer the taste will be. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

For the filling and the dough:

1 pack Athens Fillo Pastry sheets thawed( This is available is super target or may be walmart),
1/2 pound walnuts crushed ( not too fine ) (you can add other nuts like pistachios,almonds and they taste good too)
Confectioners sugar:enough to coat the crushed walnuts,
1 stick of unsalted butter to brush on the layers.

For the sugar/honey syrup:

2 cups water,
1 1/2 cup sugar,
Honey : 1 Tbsp,
Fresh Lemon Juice: 1 Tbsp
Cinnamon (optional) : a pinch or depending on how much you like cinnamon.I have not added any cinnamon here.
Pistachio powder for garnishing

Procedure:

To make the syrup, mix the sugar to the water and boil it until you get a two thread consistency syrup. Do not over-boil else the syrup won't be the soaked by the fillo dough sheets. One the desired consistency is achieved, add honey and fresh lemon juice and keep it aside to cool.
For the filling,mix all the ingredients,except the unsalted butter.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-by-9-inch or 13-by-9-inch baking pan or 15-by-10-inch jelly roll pan. Sometimes 350 degrees will be very high for baking,so depending on your over,preheat the oven to temperatures between 315 to 350 degrees.
Place a sheet of fillo in the prepared pan and lightly brush with butter. Repeat with 7 more sheets. Spread with half of the filling. Top with 8 more sheets, brushing each with butter. Use any torn sheets in the middle layer. Spread with the remaining nut mixture and end with a top layer of 8 sheets, continuing to brush each with butter. Cut/trim any overhanging edges.
Using a sharp knife, cut 6 equal lengthwise strips (about 1 3/4 inches wide) through the top layer of pastry. Make 1 1/2-inch-wide diagonal cuts across the strips to form diamond shapes.
Just before baking, lightly sprinkle the top of the pastry with cold water. This prevents the pastry from curling. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees and bake until golden brown, about 15 additional minutes.
Cut through the pastry sheets and drizzle with the sugar-honey syrup. Let it stand for 5-7 hours,so that the syrup is completely absorbed by the fillo sheets. You can garnish it with powdered pistachios as shown in the picture above.