Baklava - The best dessert ever!! Make Ice cream with the leftovers, DOUBLE WIN!!

Keep in mind that these recipes quantities are for a typical Greek family style meal, so they are huge. But you are more than welcome to halve the quantities as the recipe principals stay the same.

Baklava

We used a large oven tray, when making this at home and for less people, just halve the quantities and use a smaller tray. Forget about your diet! Personally I would stay with this size as I made the most amazing ice cream with the left overs.

 

You’ll need:

For the Baklava

3 x Packets of Phyllo Pastry – defrosted over night

1.5kg Unsalted Butter - melted (Julia Child would have been very proud of us)

500g Almonds skin on – blitzed in a blender to about large breadcrumb size

300g Pecan Nuts – chopped roughly, we used a pestle and mortar

3 x Large Spoons of Muscovado Sugar (roughly 180g size)

3 x Large Spoons of Fine Breadcrumbs (they should be very fine almost like a grainy flour)

40g Ground Cinnamon

For the Syrup

4 x Cups White Sugar

5½ x Cups Water

6 – 8 Cloves

4 x Cinnamon Sticks – we used Cinnamon Bark

Method:

Start with your first pack of Phyllo, lay down the first layer and with a pastry brush each layer with melted butter, then the next layer. Keep repeating till you get to the last layer of Phyllo in the packet. Lay it down on top of the other buttered layers but do not butter the last layer. This is very important, as this is where your first layer of nuts will go. In a large mixing bowl mix together the almonds, pecans, breadcrumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Make sure that the mixture is mixed properly, now spread an even amount over the dry layer of Phyllo. Now you start with the second pack of Phyllo, gently place the first layer on top of the nuts and brush it liberally with melted butter. Again here keep layering and brush each layer with melted butter till you get to the last layer of Phyllo. Do the same as before spread an even amount of the nut & sugar mixture onto the dry Phyllo. Now onto the last packet of Phyllo, this one will get brushed with butter on each layer till you reach the last layer of Phyllo, which must get no butter; this will make it easy for you to cut the Baklava without getting butter on your hands. Take a sharp knife and start to cut diamonds into the baklava. (See pictures)

 

 

Once you’ve cut the entire pan, pour the rest of the melted butter over the entire thing and set aside. Pre- heat your oven to 160 ͦc, all the butter will be soaked up by the pastry and the breadcrumb and nut mixture.

To make the syrup, combine the water and sugar in a large pot and bring it to a boil. No need to stir as the sugar will dissolve as soon as it boils. Only after the syrup comes to the boil do you add the cloves and cinnamon. Do not add the cinnamon before as you want translucent syrup, if you put the cinnamon in to early the syrup will take on the cinnamon colour. Once the syrup is cooked, cool it completely. Pour the hot syrup in another bowl and place it over an ice bath. The syrup should be ice cold when it goes onto the hot baklava.

Bake the baklava for 40 minutes till golden and crisp. Pour off some of the excess butter and the ladle the syrup over the entire thing, set aside to cool slightly and give the dish time to soak up all that syrup.

 TIP: Rule of thumb when working with Phyllo is to cover it with a damp tea towel so it doesn’t dry out. Phyllo can dry out very quickly, and can become brittle and breaks easily. So keep this in mind when working with Phyllo especially with a recipe like this where you will be using large quantities.