Baklava

4.50 (8)
⏱ 82 mins 🍽 25 pieces 🏷 Dessert

This celebrated dessert pastry, a traditional delicacy of Greece and the Middle East, features crisp layers of buttered phyllo dough and a fragrant nut filling. The whole creation is drenched in a sweet, floral syrup made with rose water. It yields 25 pieces and requires just over an hour to prepare and bake, plus several hours for the syrup to be absorbed and the pastry to cool properly.

Baklava

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 tablespoons rose water
  • 1 lb phyllo dough, cut in half to make 9x13 inch sheets
  • 1 cup margarine, melted
  • 2 cups chopped walnuts or 2 cups chopped pistachios
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons rose water

Method

  1. Begin by preparing the syrup. Combine the water and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.
  2. Stir the rose water into the hot syrup.
  3. Allow the syrup to cool completely before placing it in the refrigerator.
  4. Next, make the filling. Process the chopped nuts, sugar, and rosewater in a food processor until a paste forms.
  5. To assemble, use a pastry brush to coat an oblong cake pan with some of the melted margarine.
  6. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough in the pan and brush it with more margarine. Repeat this process, layering and buttering, until half of the phyllo and half of the margarine are used.
  7. Spread the nut filling evenly over the layered phyllo.
  8. Continue layering the remaining phyllo sheets on top, brushing each one with the rest of the margarine. Ensure the final layer is brushed with margarine.
  9. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
  10. Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into 1 inch wide strips that go down to the pan's base. Then make diagonal cuts across these strips to create diamond shapes.
  11. Bake the pastry for 30 minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 300°F and bake for about 10 minutes more, or until the top is golden brown.
  12. Once baked, carefully re-cut along the pre-made lines.
  13. Pour the chilled syrup evenly over the entire hot pastry.
  14. The syrup will soak into the layers. Let the baklava cool at room temperature for several hours before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sodium173500 mg

Recipe details

CategoryDessert
AuthorCarol Bullock