Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Preparations:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350°F). Finely grind the walnuts, cinnamon and sugar in a blender and coat the base of a baking tin with ghee. If the filo pastry sheets do not fit exactly, simply place the baking tin on top of the filo pastry sheets and cut the sheets to fit the tin.
Layering & baking:
- Carefully layer 15 filo pastry sheets in the tin, brushing each layer with ghee. Spread half of the nut mixture evenly on top. Place another 5 filo pastry sheets on top of the walnuts and brush each layer with ghee again, then cover with a layer of the remaining walnuts.
- Place the remaining filo pastry sheets over the nuts and brush each layer with ghee again.
- Cut the baklava into diamonds by making 4 lengthwise cuts and 9 crosswise cuts diagonally.
- Bake for about 45-50 minutes until the cut lines are golden brown.
Sugar syrup:
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar and lemon juice for a simple syrup. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened but is still clear in color, about 5-7 minutes.
- When the baklava is ready, remove the tin from the oven and immediately pour the cooled sugar syrup evenly over the baklava. Leave to cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours before serving.
Sevier suggestion:
- Serve with a warm mint tea or Arabic coffee/mocha.
Nutrition
Notes
- Try other nuts. Use the same method and technique, but try chopped cashews, hazelnuts or pistachios for an excellent pistachio baklava. Or consider a mix of several types of nuts for a different flavor profile.
- Cut the baklava into different shapes. Diamond cuts are very popular, but you can also cut the baklava into squares or rectangles. For triangular baklava, cut the pieces into squares first and then cut diagonally through the squares to divide them into two triangles.
- Seasoning. Add a pinch of cardamom or ground cloves to the nut mixture for a warm and cozy aroma.
- Layering: You can also layer them differently. For example, spread the entire nut mixture in the middle and the filo sheets around the outside. Instead of filo sheets, nut filling, filo sheets, nut filling, filo sheets. Here I recommend: 20 filo sheets at the bottom, then the entire filling and 20 filo sheets at the top.
- Honey syrup instead of sugar syrup. If you want to reduce the amount of refined sugar, replace the sugar in the syrup with half a cup of honey. Allow this mixture to simmer gently on the stove until the honey dissolves and thickens.
