Delicious Baklava!!

I made this baklava for a dinner with friends. It turned out to be so good that I made it two days later again for my own family. So yummy and fairly easy to make!

Made with healthy walnuts and healthy cinnamon powder. So good to eat good food that is good for your taste as well for your body!

Walnuts are know as brain food, because of the healthy omega-3 in it.

Cinnamon is healthy for:

• lowering blood sugar levels

• lowering cholesterol levels

• having antioxidant, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory effects

Of course there is only a little bit of cinnamon in this Baklava but every tiny bit helps!

Ingredients for 16 pieces of Baklava:

• package of phyllo dough (buy it frozen) 16 sheets

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

• 1 cup or 250 grams #walnuts halves and pieces, blend into tiny bits

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1/4 cup honey

• 3/4 teaspoon #cinnamon powder

• 6 tablespoons water

• baking dish, like an oval one of 13" by 8" (33cm by 20cm)

Preparations:

Defrost phyllo dough overnight in fridge. Best to take it out of the fridge 1 hour before preparing the baklava.

It is best to start with making the syrup, since it has then time to cool down.

Syrup:

• put sugar, lemon juice, honey and water in a small pot

• heat on medium

• keep stirring until sugar has been dissolved completely

• when boiling simmer for 4 minutes

• take of the stove to cool down

Walnut filling:

• pulse walnut pieces in blender for 10 times

• mix walnut crumbs with cinnamon in bowl

Dough:

• preheat oven to 325° F or 165°C

• clean counter surface

• roll out the phyllo dough

• measure and cut out the shape of your baking dish

• put damp towel on top of phyllo dough to prevent it from drying out

• I was able to cut the phyllo dough in two parts which gave me 32 sheets of phyllo dough

• butter the baking dish

• take one slice of phyllo dough and put it in baking dish and brush it with melted butter

• repeat this with 9 more phyllo dough sheets, brushing with butter every time

• put 1/4 of walnut mix and spread out evenly on the layered phyllo dough

• put 4 phyllo dough sheets, buttering every sheet separately

• put 1/4 of walnut mix and spread out evenly on the layered phyllo dough

• repeat until the top layer that should be 10 sheets again

• brush with butter

• cut in the baklava so you will get 16 baklava pieces

• bake baklava in pre-heated oven for around 1 hour to 1 1/4 hour until golden brown

• take baking dish out of oven and pour the syrup over the baklava, making sure all the edges are covered in syrup

• let cool down on counter top for 4-6 hours

Serve!

I had it the next day and it was oh so good and crispy!!!

TIP:

Keep baklava crisp: cover tightly with aluminum foil, or put in air-tight-container in room temperature. Will be good for 2 weeks.

Eat and Live Well!!