Crispy, golden phyllo pastry layered with toasted nuts, drenched in a sweet floral honey syrup, scented with warm spices of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, this Middle Eastern/ Mediterranean sweet treat is one of my favorite desserts out there. It is vey indulgent, but as a holiday treat worth every bite.
Homemade baklava is way easier to make than you think. There are several ways to make them, my favorite is the Lebanese Style Baklava with a honey-orange blossom-rose. The floral honey syrup along with warm spices is specially flavorful and the citrus helps cut through the sweetness in a beautiful way. It’s a treat to make for any festive occasion that will surely garner lots of compliments and will gorgeous on your holiday table. Make it for Diwali, Eid, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays or any festive occasion you need a dessert to feed a crowd.
Ingredients For Baklava
- Phyllo Dough Sheets: Available in most grocery stores specifically around Christmas. Look for it in the frozen desserts section along with puff pastry. NOTE: puff pastry and phyllo dough are different. You’ll need phyllo dough for this recipe.
- Nuts: Baklava is normally made with a combination or individual nuts (almonds, walnuts and pistachios) being the most popular. I like a combination of almonds and pistachios. On occasion I use all three and it works beautifully too.
- Honey: Honey adds a wonderful floral depth to the syrup. Lebanese Baklava typically uses more sugar than honey in its syrup and Greek versions has more honey, for this recipe I went with the latter. Use any ratio making sure the total quantity of sweeteners is the same.
- Sugar: I used one cup of sugar to make the simple syrup along with one cup honey.
- Melted Butter: Melted butter or ghee will both work for this recipe. Ghee or clarified butter is typically used when making baklava. I use organic butter, allow the butter to gently melt and burn off some of the moisture, but not to the point of ghee. Although ghee is delicious too.
- Ground Cinnamon: ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon adds a wonderful flavor and depth to the nut mixture. You can use up to one teaspoon if you’d like, however, I prefer ½ teaspoon so it’s not too overpowering and allows the citrus flavors to shine.
- Orange: Zest of one orange does wonderful things to the baklava along with 2 tablespoon of fresh juice. If you have orange blossom water and rose water, one tablespoon of each adds a beautiful floral aroma, this is optional though. You don’t need to buy the blossom waters. Zest does a great job as well.
- Citrus Juice: It helps cut some of the sweetness.
- Other Spices: Use 1-2 pods of cardamom while boiling the syrup, this is enough to infuse flavor. Then pull the pods out before pouring over the baklava. Keep in mind that the cardamom is optional.
Tips for Making Baklava
- Honey Syrup: Combine the honey, sugar, orange zest, water, and cardamom pods(if using) in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer for 10-12 minutes on a low until it starts to thicken. Take it off the heat, stir in orange juice, lemon juice, rose and orange blossom water(if using). Pull out the cardamom pods and keep the syrup warm until the baklava completes baking. The syrup will thicken as it cools. The syrup should be warm-hot when pouring over the baklava.
- Nuts: Start by preheating the oven and brushing a 13×9 baking pan with the melted butter. In a food processor or pulse the roasted nuts until they break down into small pieces. You don’t want them to be completely ground, some texture will make for better textured baklava. Add a little sugar and ground cinnamon and stir, or pulse another couple of times to combine.
- Layering: Defrost the dough sheets overnight in the fridge. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a clean work surface. Cover the dough with a damp towel as you work so that it doesn’t dry out. Place the first sheet of phyllo in the baking dish. Brush with butter evenly. Then place another sheet of phyllo and brush with butter. Repeat for another 5 times. Top with one cup of nuts. Then the next 6 layers of buttered sheets followed with 1 cup of nuts in the middle. The top layer will end with 10 butter phyllo sheets.
- Bake: Brush the top of the last phyllo sheet with melted butter. Then, cut into 4 strips lengthwise. Turn the pan and cut diagonally to form a diamond shaped triangles. Bake until golden. Pour the warm syrup evenly all over the baklava.
- Rest Time: Allow the baklava to rest overnight preferably so it absorbs the syrup and firms up. A minimum of 4 hours is necessary, but for best results leave it overnight.
Baklava
Equipment
- 8*13 or 9*13 Baking Pan
- Pastry Brush
- Sharp Knife
Ingredients
- 8 oz walnuts or almonds, toasted
- 8 oz pistachio, toasted
- 1 lb frozen phyllo pastry, thawed overnight in the fridge
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 1 cup good quality honey local prefrebaly
- 1 medium whole orange, zested and 2 tablespoon juice
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water optional, I love the floral aroma it imparts. You don't have to buy just for this recipe
- 1 tablespoon rose water optional
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, about 1¼ cup melted
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1-2 pods cardamom optional
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg optional
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a food processor, combine the toasted nuts, 2 tablespoons of sugar, cinnamon and salt and pulse until finely chopped, about 8-10 times, leaving some of the nuts in larger pieces for texture.
- Brush a 9×13-inch baking pan generously with some of the melted butter. Place 1 sheet of phyllo on the bottom of the prepared pan and trim it to fit. Trim the remaining sheets to about the same size with a sharp knife or scissors. Brush generously with melted butter and repeat with 5 more sheets of phyllo, gently pressing each layer. Make sure you cover the stack of phyllo with a damp towel at all times to prevent it from drying out.
- Sprinkle with about 1 cup of prepared nuts evenly. Top the nut mixture with a phyllo sheet and brush it generously with butter. Repeat with 5 more buttered phyllo sheets. Repeat with another cup of the nut mixture.
- Top with 10 phyllo sheets, brushing each sheet generously with butter.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the phyllo layers into 24 (about 2 1/4-inch) squares. Cut each square in half on the diagonal. Bake until golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Set the baklava pan on a wire rack.
- Meanwhile, make the syrup while the baklava bakes (The syrup should be ready when the baklava comes out of the oven.) In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, honey, 1 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the orange juice, orange zest and blossom waters if using.
- Slowly pour the hot syrup all over the hot baklava carefully, covering the entire surface. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of chopped toasted pistachios on top. Let stand at room temperature on a wire rack at least 4 hours or up to overnight before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to a week. I like to warm it for few seconds in the microwave before eating.
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