Kathy’s Vintage Modern Recipes🍕🍔🍝!!: •••BEST EVER BAKLAVA (TURKEY)🇹🇷🌷🍯🥜🍋🍊🍮🍚🧈!!••••

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••••BEST EVER BAKLAVA🍯!!

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Baklava

This heavenly baklava combines honey-soaked layers of flaky phyllo pastry with spiced walnuts. It's a great make-ahead dessert!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Greek

Keyword baklava

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Rest Time 8 hours

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings

Calories 215kcal

Ingredients

For the Baklava:

16 oz walnuts
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom (or ground cloves)
1/4 tsp salt
16 oz phyllo dough* thawed
1 cup butter melted

For the Syrup:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup good quality honey**
1 cinnamon stick
1 strip orange peel
1 strip lemon peel

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Pulse the walnuts in a food processor with the cinnamon, cardamom, and salt until well chopped.
To assemble the baklava, place 8 layers of phyllo dough one-by-one on the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan, brushing each lightly with butter.
Spread 1/5 of the walnut mixture evenly on top (about 2/3 cup).
Add another 5 layers of phyllo one-by-one, brushing each with butter, then add another layer of nuts. The total sequence should be phyllo layers of 8,5,5,5,5,8, with nuts in between those layers.
Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava into whatever shape you desire (diamonds, squares, triangles, etc). See blog post for picture.
Bake the baklava for 50 minutes, until golden on the edges and tops. Then let cool for at least 15 minutes.
In the meantime, bring all the syrup ingredients to a boil in a saucepan, then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove the citrus peels and cinnamon stick, and pour the hot syrup evenly over the baklava.
Let the baklava cool completely at room temperature for 8 hours (uncovered, to prevent sogginess). Then it's ready to enjoy!

Notes

*My 1-lb box of phyllo said it had 18 13x18" layers, so I cut them in half, and had 36 sheets total for my 9x13 pan.

**I cannot overstate how important it is to use a good honey here. If it comes in a bear shape bottle, probably steer clear. Ideally look for raw honey.

Nutrition

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••••A FAVORITE OF MATTHEW’S🍯🧈🥜!!

Testing the Baklava

Here are some of the tests the masters, ustas at Gulluoglu carries out for a perfect baklava:

Hearing Test
When you place a fork into a baklava you should hear a rustling sound. This means that the thin layers of dough are really thin and baklava is well cooked. The thinner the layers of dough the better the baklava.
Smelling test
When you lift to your mouth, you must smell the butter and the nut or peanut used as a filling. A good baklava should have fine ingredients.
Tasting test
You can feel the good baklava in your mouth. Good baklava leaves a heavenly taste in your mouth and does not hurt the stomach.

••••HERE’S THE VIDEO!!