Homemade Baklava by the Spice Madams
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: serves 4-6
Ingredients
  •  1 cup walnuts
  •  3⁄4 cup almonds
  •  3⁄4 cup pistachios
  •  2 tsp ground cinnamon
  •  ½ tsp ground cloves
  • 1 cup of butter, melted
  •  1 (16oz) package of phyllo dough pastry sheets (not the pre-shaped phyllo
  • cups)
  •  1.5 cups sugar
  •  ¼ honey
  •  1 cinnamon stick
  •  orange zest from one small or half a medium orang
Instructions
  1.  Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2.  Make syrup: Place sugar, honey, cinnamon s ck & orange zest in a medium
  3. saucepan with 1 1⁄4 cup of water and bring to a gentle simmer on medium heat. You’ll know it’s ready for the next step when small bubbles appear on the surface of the liquid.
  4. Reduce heat to low, let it bubble away, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by a third. Leave to cool. (The syrup must be cool when it is poured over the pastry, otherwise the pastry will become soggy.)
  5. Chop up the nuts in a food processor until they resemble large coarse breadcrumbs (it’s fine to have some larger pieces), then pour nut mixture into a bowl and stir the cinnamon and cloves into it.
  6. Lightly grease a 9 x 15 or casserole-sized pan with the melted butter (using a pastry brush if you have one). Gently unfold the phyllo and cover with a damp tea towel to stop it cracking.
  7. Gently unroll the phyllo dough & layer individual sheets of it in the baking pan. If your dish is bigger than the dough sheets, gently cut the dough to fit. Don’t worry if you have some uneven pieces of dough – you can always layer them into the baklava!
  8. Brush each layer with melted butter. After 4 layers, scatter over half the nut mixture; repeat with 4 layers of phyllo & butter, then the rest of the nuts.
  9. Top with the last 4 layers of phyllo, then generously butter the top. Cut into diamonds with a sharp knife – ensure the blade goes right to the bottom.
  10. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven on a hot baking sheet for 30–35 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp, reducing the temperature to 330 F if the baklava is browning too quickly.
  11. Remove the baklava from the oven and spoon half the cooled syrup over the top. Leave for 5 minutes, then spoon over the remaining syrup. Allow the baklava to cool before removing the individual pieces from the dish.
Recipe by The Novice Housewife at https://novicehousewife.com/2016/11/06/kim-meghana-spice-madams/