Baklava
servings
Baklava is a delicious dessert made with buttery layers of phyllo dough, chopped pistachios, and walnuts, all covered with sweet honey syrup. Delicious!
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 cup finely chopped pistachios
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
- 1 lb phyllo dough
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅓ teaspoon ground cloves
Sryup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Finely ground pistachios for garnished optional
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine ingredients for syrup; water, sugar, honey, lemon juice, ground nutmeg, and cinnamon stick.
- Bring ingredients to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower heat and allow syrup to simmer for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Set aside and allow to cool completely, removing cinnamon stick.
- Prepare a 11 x 16-inch jelly roll pan by lining it with tin foil. Grease it by brushing it with melted butter. *See notes below for making in a 9 X 13-inch pan. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, combine the finely chopped nuts with sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Gently roll out the phyllo dough and cover with a damp towel. (It will tend to dry out very quickly when you're working on it.)
- Place the first sheet of phyllo dough into the pan. With a pastry brush, brush the phyllo sheet with melted butter. Repeat 7 more times until the bottom layer is 8 layers thick, with each sheet being brushed by butter.
- Spoon on a thin layer of the nut mixture.
- Cover with two more sheets of phyllo, brushing each one with butter. Continue to repeat: nut mixture and then two sheets of phyllo dough, each brushed with butter, until there is no remaining nut mixture.
- Using a sharp knife and starting at one of the corners, very gently make diagonal cuts across the baklava. Repeat process going in other direction so that they criss-cross.
- Fold the tin foil up along the sides and ends so that the baklava is encased. This will allow the syrup to soak into the sides easier after it is baked.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly golden brown and edges appear slightly crisp.
- Spoon the cooled syrup over the hot baklava and let cool for 4 hours.
Notes
This recipe can be made in a 9 X 13-inch baking dish. I recommend a deep one, like a lasagna pan, as the phyllo dough sheets may be a bit larger than the pan itself, and you'll need to either cut or bunch them up to make them fit. Also, you may not use all of the phyllo dough by the time you reach the top of the pan. As you can see in the pictures, I initially began assembling it on a jelly roll pan and then transferred the entire thing to a 9 X 13 inch pan. It turned out perfectly fine doing it this way, though the transfer process was a bit scary. To make it easiest on yourself, I highly suggest you start with either the jelly roll pan or a 9 X 13-inch and just stick with it.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 233kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 93mg | Potassium: 96mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 200IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg