Baklava
A classic Levantine/Turkish layered phyllo pastry with nuts and syrup, from the book's Arab-cuisine section.
Ingredients
| 225 g | phyllo pastry sheets | |
| 175 g | almonds | |
| 175 g | walnuts | |
| 90 g | butter | |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | cinnamon |
| 1/2 tsp | 2.5 ml | cloves, ground |
| 500 g | sugar | |
| 1 1/2 cups | 360 ml | water |
| 1/2 stick | vanilla | |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | lemon juice |
Instructions
Prep 30 min, cook 70 min, total 100 min. Makes 8-10 pieces.
First prepare a mixture of the crushed walnuts, almonds and cinnamon.
Grease the baking tray with fat. Place one sheet of phyllo on the bottom, brush it with butter and lay the next sheet on top of it. After you have arranged a layer of three sheets, add part of the prepared mixture of walnuts, almonds and cinnamon. Repeat the procedure every three sheets. Cover with the last sheet. Brush with butter and cut into diamonds. In the center of each diamond place a pinch of ground cloves.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for about 1 hour.
Combine the water, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. Boil over low heat until the syrup thickens. Remove the cinnamon stick.
Once the baklava has cooled, pour the syrup over it.