Category: Main Dishes

Origin: Lebanon

 

For how many people: 6 – 8

Preparation time: 40 min

Cooking time: 15 min

 

Story of the recipe or story of the chef:

To impress your friends and family, there’s nothing better than homemade baklava! No one will believe it… it’s as if it was just out of a pastry shop! I got the recipe from my mother, who was given the recipe by an Iraqi friend.

Carole

 

List of ingredients:

  • 1 pack of filo pastry (you can find it in specialized pastry or dessert shops)
  • 2 glasses of shelled pistachios
  • ½ glass of sugar
  • 225g butter

 

For the syrup:

  • ½ glass of sugar
  • ½ glass of water
  • 2 tbsp orange blossom water

 

Preparation Mode:

1.  Melt the butter in a saucepan, making sure not to burn it.

2.  Grind the pistachios in a food processor to get mini pistachio pieces, not too fine and not too coarse. In a large bowl, mix the sugar with the pistachios.

3.  On a baking tray, or similar, start to layer 7 layers of filo pastry, slathering with melted butter between each layer.

4.  Then , add the mixture of sugar/pistachios and cover with 3 other layers. Don’t forget to add melted butter between each layer.

5.  Continue with 3 more layers. To summarize: 7 layers on the bottom (butter in between). Then add the mixture of sugar and pistachios. Then add 3 layers of filo pasty (butter in between) and the mixture of sugar/pistachios until you finish the filo pastry.

6.  On the top, slather with butter. Draw diagonal and parrallel lines (see picture).

7.  Bake until golden. While the pastry is coloring in the oven, prepare the syrup.

 

For the syrup:

1.  Heat ½ a glass of sugar with ½ a glass of water. Leave to boil until the sugar melts. Add two spoons of orange blossom water.

2.  Once the baklava is out of the oven, pour the hot syrup over the diamond-shaped baklava until it is well absorbed.

3.  Sprinkle with ground pistachios.

4.  Arrange the baklava to stand as a pyramid.

 

My top tip:

I recommend 1 full hour of brisk walking to get rid of all of the calories.

 

* Rich sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup.