Mike's Baklava

I can't really take any credit for this recipe, as my friend Mike invented it with his knowledge of baklava and about 10 different recipes found online. Anyway, after opposing opinions of what we should bake (I wanted fruit, Mike wanted chocolate) Mike came up with Baklava, which was perfect because I had loads of filo pastry left after making the savoury strudel. I've never tried it before so I can't say if it tastes authentic. Mike said it tastes better than the real thing, but then he might be a bit biased because he made it! It does taste pretty good though, what's not to like, honey, nuts and pastry... Yum!

It's hard to capture Baklava's beauty, all my other pictures looked like shepherds pie

For a lot you'll need:

18 sheets of filo pastry
250g finely chopped pistachios and walnuts
250g melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon

For the syrup:

225g sugar
175g honey
250ml water

Mike doing the nut sprinkling

1. Take a square tin (roughly the same size as the pastry would be good) and grease it up, then pre heat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Lay the first 10 sheets of the filo pastry in the tin, one at a time, brushing with the melted butter each time. 
3. Mix the chopped nuts and cinnamon together and then sprinkle half the nut/cinnamon mixture over the pastry
4. layer another two sheets, brushing with butter each time, then sprinkle over half of the remaining nuts
5. Place the last 6 filo sheets on, again brushing with butter each time
6. Cut a criss cross patter in to the top of the baklava then pop in the oven for 30 mins
7. While it's baking make up the syrup by mixing together the honey, water and sugar in a pan and bringing to the boil. Then leave to simmer for 20 minutes and leave to cool.
8. When the baklava is done, pour the cool syrup in to the hot baklava and top with the remaining nuts.
9. Leave to cool and enjoy!

Posted in: Baking