Baking Baklava

Baklava is one of those desserts that seem like they'll take a long time to make for little reward - how wrong you would be!

I recently made baklava and it was so easy that I would encourage you to give it a go. In a nutshell (pun intended ;)) all you do is chop some nuts, butter up some phyllo pastry (layer upon layer upon layer) then pour over a syrup that only takes a few minutes to create. The crispy, flaky pastry, the crunchy nuts and sweet, runny syrup were so tasty that I couldn't stop reaching for the little diamond-shaped treats - very dangerous!

I used this recipe here, who found the recipe here, but used mixed nuts and left out the orange and lemon peel as I didn't have them on hand. I also halved the recipe below to avoid total sugar overload. All in all, it was a great little treat that I'll make again when the occasion calls for it.

Ingredients:

Adapted from Closet Cooking and Use Real Butter

4 cups mixed nuts (chopped)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup butter (melted)

1 pound phyllo pastry (thawed)

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick cinnamon

3/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Mix the nuts, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

2. Brush the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan with butter.

3. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 8 sheets in the pan.

4. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture onto the phyllo in the pan.

5. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 2 sheets on top of the nut mixture.

6. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture onto the phyllo in the pan.

7. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 2 sheets on top of the nut mixture.

8. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture onto the phyllo in the pan.

9. Brush butter onto the top of a sheet of the phyllo dough and place the sheet into the pan. Repeat until there are 8 sheets on top of the nut mixture.

10. Slice the baklava with a sharp knife.

11. Bake in a preheated 180C oven until golden brown on top, about 25-35 minutes.

12. Bring the water, sugar and cinnamon to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

13. Add the honey and simmer for 2 minutes.

14. Remove the cinnamon from the syrup.

15. Pour the syrup over the baklava when it comes out of the oven.

16. Let the baklava cool for a few hours.