Baklava

Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo dough, filled with chopped nuts and held together with syrup made of honey. It is the cuisine of the Mediterranean area including Levant, Caucasus, Balkans, Maghreb, and Central and Western Asia.

The word baklava was first attested in the English language in 1650, a borrowing from Ottoman Turkish. The current pastry developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.

Baklava is my family's favorite pastry!

This baklava recipe is easy, because we will use a purchased philo dough (make sure you use one with real butter).

Ingredients for Baklava Recipe:

1 pkg philo dough

1 cup melted butter

3- 4 cups walnuts, pistachios or other nuts that you love, finely chopped

Syrup:

1/2 cup honey

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

First chop nuts with a blender or food processor. I started with the food processor, but didn't like it.

And finish it manually.

Place 4 philo sheets into pan and brush the top of each individual sheet with butter.

Spread nut mixture over forth philo dough.

Repeat until your philo sheets would be finish.

I didn’t have enough melted butter, so I used corn oil in addition to the butter.

Cut the pastry into diagonal shapes or whatever shape you like.

Bake at 325˚F for 1 hour.

Maybe little less-You will need to check when the tops are golden brown.

Syrup:

Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup honey, juice of 1/2 lemon and 3/4 cup water.

You could add the small pieces of lemon skin from lemon that you used for juice.

Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then boil the mixture for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and let syrup cool.

Remove the Baklava from the oven and immediately add the syrup over the hot baklava.

Whoever loves the combination of salt and sugar can also add a little salt. I tried it on a couple of pieces.

Let baklava sit overnight at room temperature for the syrup to penetrate and soften the layers.

If you could not wait overnight, try after min 4-6 hours :-)

It’s truly delicious.

It’s truly delicious.

#pastry #nuts #honey #baklava