Although many are those who attribute the origin of this dessertthe truth is that it is the Turkish baklava that has the designation of origin assigned by the European Commission.
The Turks have been preparing this sweet for centuries, at first to the delight of sultans and wealthy classes and already in the 19th century for those who could afford to prepare it on special occasions. Today he is still the protagonist of the sweet tables in the festivals of the lamb or in Ramadan. Turkish tradition also reserves it for wedding ceremonies where the bride’s family has to bring trays of baklava for all the guests.
In essence, this dessert consists of delicate layers of filo pastry glazed with melted butter and interspersed with pistachios or ground walnuts. Once baked, it is watered with a syrup made with water, sugar and lemon juice. Lemon juice is added so that the syrup does not crystallize. The Greek variants or from some Arab countries add honey and orange blossom water to the syrup.
The elaboration of the phyllo dough requires technique and above all space, so you can make it at home or buy it to make this dessert. The most important thing to keep in mind if you buy the phyllo dough is to cover it while it is not being used, since it dries out and breaks very easily. As for the cuts, they can vary in the form of rectangles, triangles, diamonds and a long etcetera.
recipe information
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- Preparation time: 20 minutes
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- cooking time: 30 minutes
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- total time: 50 minutes
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- rations: 25 servings
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- Category: desserts
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- type of cuisine: turkish
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- Calories per serving (kcal):160
baklava ingredients
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- 250g pistachios (or walnuts or a combination of both)
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- 200g of sugar
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- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
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- 150g butter
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- 10 sheets of filo pastry (250 g)
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- 200 ml of water
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- Zest and juice of half a lemon
how to make baklava
Baklava can be made from pistachios or walnuts, or a combination of both. For this recipe, we are going to use 250 g of pistachios. With the help of a food processor, we chop the pistachios to be able to use them as a filling. Once chopped, reserve a spoonful of these to use for decoration. After this, we add 50 g of sugar to the rest of the pistachios. Reserve the rest of the sugar to make the syrup.
We also add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the ground pistachios to finish preparing the filling.
On the other hand, we melt 150 g of butter. We can melt the butter in the microwave or in a saucepan over low heat.
In an ovenproof dish, place a first layer of filo pastry, as the sheet will be larger than the mold we wrinkle the edges. Next, we paint the dough with butter. We will repeat this process 4 more times until we have put 5 layers of phyllo dough in the mold.
Now we put the pistachio filling, pressing well before continuing with more layers of filo pastry.
We place another layer of filo pastry on top of the filling, paint it with butter and do the same with the other 4 sheets of filo pastry that we have left. As with the others, we paint the top layer of phyllo dough with butter. Next, we cut all the layers into more or less equal portions. We got 25. Once the cuts were made, we took the cake to the preheated oven at 180ºC for about 30 minutes.
While the cake is cooking in the oven, make a syrup with 200 ml of water, the zest and juice of half a lemon and the remaining 150 g of sugar. To do this, we take all the ingredients to a saucepan over high heat and cook the syrup for about 5 or 6 minutes, until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Remove the cake from the oven and pour the syrup, distributing it well over the entire surface.
To finish, we sprinkle the ground pistachios that we had reserved.
We serve the baklava, once cold, in individual portions with a tea or coffee.
Easy preparation summary
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- Grind the pistachios, reserve a spoonful for decoration, and add the sugar
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- We add the cinnamon
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- Add the melted butter
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- Place 5 layers of buttered phyllo dough on a platter
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- Add the pistachio filling
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- Place the other 5 layers of buttered phyllo dough on top, cut into portions and bake for 30 minutes at 180ºC
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- Make a syrup with water, sugar, zest and lemon juice
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- Take the cake out of the oven and pour the syrup
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- Sprinkle with the ground pistachios that we had reserved
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- We serve the baklava in portions
