Buttery pastry filled with spice, essence and nuts, and drenched in honey.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 2 hourshours
Equipment
Pastry brush
Baking dish or tray
Pointed serrated knife
Saucepan
Food processor or blender
Ingredients
1lbPhyllo pastry sheetsthawed
2lbsGround nutsof your choice
1Egg yolk
1tbspCinnamon powder
1tspClove powder
1/2tspsalt
3/4lbMelted buttermore if needed
3/4cupSugarfor the syrup
1/2cupOrange juicefor the syrup
1Cinnamon stick
3Whole cloves
1Orange peellong strip
1tspOrange Blossom wateror Rose water
1 1/2cupsHoney
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees
To make the nut filling, crush the nuts in a food processor or in batches in a blender. Add the spices, salt and egg yolks, mix well and set aside.
To prepare the layers of phyllo dough, brush a little melted butter on the bottom and sides of a large baking pan. Place sheets of phyllo dough, one at a time, basting the melted butter on each sheet with a pastry brush, until 1/3 of the phyllo sheets have lined the bottom and sides of the pan.
Place half of the nut mixture into the pan, on top of the phyllo sheets and pat them down evenly. Proceed with the layers of phyllo dough, as before, using 1/3 of the sheets, brushing well with butter. Add the remaining nut mixture, and continue with the last of the phyllo sheets until the buttery phyllo dough and encased the nut filling.
Fold the overhang of dough, neatly around the edges, as you would a pie crust, trimming any excess dough away. Give the top layer of phyllo one last brush of butter.
This next step, making diagonal cutshalfway through the dough, is important to do before baking, otherwise the dough will be to crisp to make clean cuts. The diamond shapes you will cut into the dough can be finished cutting the remainder of the way through, when the baklava has cooled.
Bake for 2 hours. The last 15-minutes, turn the oven to 350 and keep an eye on the baklava. A golden brown finish is was we are after. The perfect way to bake the baklava is in a low and slow oven.
While the baklava is baking, make the honey-based syrup, by placing all the syrup ingredients, except the honey, into a medium size pan. Bring to a low boil, quickly turn it down to low and allow to simmer for 7-minutes. Turn it off, whisk in the honey and allow the flavors to steep.
Just before the baklava is finished baking, strain the cooled syrup. Once the baklava comes out of the oven, begin to drizzle the syrup slowly over the hot baklava, around the edges, between the slices until the sweet pastry has much moisture all the way through. Once cooled, finish cutting all the way through with a sharp knife, taking care not to have the top layers of phyllo slide off.
Traditional Turkish baklava, Traditional Greek baklava and throughout most of the Middle Eastern countries, the baklava/baklawa is removed from the pan, one piece at a time, and set into a decorative paper liner, much like a cupcake paper liner. In this way, the simple syrup remains within each slice and can last a long time in an airtight container.