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!!