traditional baklava Recipe
Baklava Recipe
Baklava is the quintessential Greek dessert. Who can resist the layers of delicate, buttered phyllo dough filled with cinnamon and walnuts? Its richness is further enhanced and sweetened with the drizzle of honey, cinnamon, and citrus-flavored syrup.
Baklava is served at most Greek weddings and holidays.
Baklava Ingredients
1 pound phyllo dough, thawed*( thawed according to package instruction)
1 pound unsalted butter
For the Syrup:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 cup honey
3 orange slices
3 cinnamon sticks
For Filling:
1 pound walnuts, finely chopped (equals about 5 cups)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
Zest of one orange (optional)
*May reduce cinnamon to 1 ½ teaspoons and substitute ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg and ½ teaspoon ground cloves
How to Make Baklava
DO AHEAD TIP: Syrup can be made the day before and brought to room temperature when ready to use. It also may be stored in a covered container for up to a week in the refrigerator.
To make the syrup, combine water, sugar, honey, orange slices, and cinnamon sticks in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring and watching the syrup carefully. Reduce heat to simmer for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside and let cool completely.
To make the filling, mix chopped nuts, sugar, cinnamon and zest, (if preferred), in a medium bowl. Set aside.
To assemble baklava:
Over low heat, melt the butter in a small saucepan and keep on low. Using a pastry brush, lightly cover the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with about 1 tablespoon of the butter.
On a clean dry work surface, lay out the pastry sheets. Work with only 1 or 2 sheets at a time, keeping unused phyllo covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel as it dries out quickly. Pastry sheets should measure approximately 10 x 13 inches and should fit nicely in the prepared pan. If they are larger than the baking dish, use a sharp knife to trim the sheets to the same size as the pan.
To begin assembly, lay 1 sheet of phyllo in the buttered pan and with a pastry brush coat the entire sheet with the melted butter. Add another sheet of dough, coat lightly with butter. Repeat the process until there are at least 8 sheets layered on the bottom. Evenly spread 1 cup of the nut mixture over the buttered phyllo sheets.
Layer 2 more phyllo sheets, making sure to butter each sheet as before. Evenly spread 1 cup of the nut mixture over the phyllo sheets. Repeat the 2-layer process until the nut mixture is gone.
At this point, there should be about 7 or 8 sheets left to cover the baklava. Layer the remaining sheets, buttering each phyllo sheet as before. When all sheets have been used, place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes so the butter sets.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Once it has set, remove the baklava from the freezer and with a sharp knife, make 2-inch strip cuts, lengthwise – but don’t cut all the way through to the bottom. Then cut 2-inch diagonal strips to make diamond-shaped pieces, again, making sure not to cut all the way through to the bottom.
Bake for approximately 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and, using a ladle, immediately pour 2 to 3 cups of the cooled syrup onto the hot baklava, covering each piece generously. Let baklava stand for several hours or overnight before serving. For easy serving, re-cut each piece through to the bottom of the pan.
NOTE – In our video above Niki is using hot syrup over cooled baklava. The ideal combination is cooled syrup over hot baklava so that the syrup is properly absorbed into the pastry.
Chef’s Note:
Don’t let leftover baklava pieces go to waste. The rich, honey-coated nuts and pastry morsels are delectably sprinkled on top of French vanilla ice cream.
This recipe comes from the Festival of Greek Flavors Cookbook, which is a compilation of 200 authentic Greek recipes handed down and triple-tested from men and women in the Denver Greek Community. The cookbook was published in 2011 and has sold over 7,000 copies worldwide.
You can order your own cookbook here.
