Baklava is a traditional Northern Cypriot recipe for a classic dessert of baked buttered filo pastry sheets with a walnut and pistachio filling soaked in syrup before serving. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Northern Cypriot version of: Baklava.
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BaklavaBaklava is one of the oldest known Turkish flaky pastry desserts, whose popularity goes back to the time of Sultan Mehmet (15th century) of the Ottoman Empire.
Ingredients:
500g of filo pastry
300g of unsalted butter (melted)
250g chopped walnuts and pistachio nuts
For the Syrup
500g of sugar
500ml of water
Juice of ½ lemon
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180C (350F) and grease a 25 x 30cm baking dish by brushing with melted butter.
Sit one sheet of filo pastry in bottom of dish and brush with melted butter. Arrange a second sheet of filo pastry on top and brush its top with melted butter.
Continue in this manner, until half of the filo pastry has been used up and the whole base of the baking dish is covered.
Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the pastry. Now arrange the remaining filo pastry sheets on top, brushing each one with melted butter as you add it.
When you've added the final sheet, brush the top with melted butter then cut into diamond shapes.
Transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake until the pastry is golden (about 25 minutes).
In the meantime, prepare the syrup: combine the sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove the hot baklava from the oven and pour over the syrup. Set the baklava aside to cool and absorb the syrup before dividing into diamonds or squares and serving.
