Hey dudes.
I'm Hilah and today on Hilah Cooking, we're making Baklava or
Baklava.
It's a crispy pastry that's filled with nuts and sugar and
cinnamon.
It's often served in Greece at Easter time.
I thought it would be a perfect thing to make since Easter's coming
up.
Guys, I hope you've got you've got your bunny outfits ready.
First, let's talk about these nuts, these ovaries, this nut right here.
Gross, guys.
Stop thinking about that stuff.
Okay.
I've got some walnuts and some pistachios.
Walnuts are more typically used in Greece and
pistachios are more typically used in Turkey where baklava probably
originated.
It's been around for a long time.
Now it's been spread all over the place in many countries and every place
has its own little version.
I'm going to use a combination of walnuts and pistachios even though that
may not be traditional.
You just want to make sure that you're not using
any nuts that have been roasted or salted.
You want raw nuts.
You can use almonds, pecans are really good for a Texas
twist.
I'm going to wrap a little dish cloth around the bag and then
we're going to pound these nuts.
You can use a food processor or a knife to chop them up.
I like the texture better if you pound them.
The biggest piece is no larger than a pea and the rest of it is pulverized.
You're good to go.
I'm going to put them back into the bowl.
Hey look, it's a hat.
Just kidding.
I think I got nut crumbs everywhere.
Then to this, I'm going to add some cinnamon, some lemon zest,
you can use orange zest, a little sugar or a lot, and just a couple pinches
of salt.
Get that mixed up.
We can set this aside.
That's going to be our filling.
Don't sit too far away, because you're going to need it.
Then I've got a pan here.
This is just an 8 by 8 square pan.
I've lined it with a little bit of parchment just to make
easier to get baklava out later.
If you don't have parchment, it's not really a big deal, you'll be
fine.
Then I'm just going to use some store bought filo dough.
Which looks like that.
This is the only company I've seen that makes it, Athens, so
you know it's authentic.
It's a super thin pastry.
It comes in a 1 pound box and then each box has 2 tubes like this.
I'm just going to use one tube.
I thawed it out over night.
You can find it in the frozen section.
It's a wheat based pastry that's literally like leaves of
paper.
It's so thin.
I'm going to work quickly so I don't need to cover
this.
If this is your first time you're making baklava, you might want to
cover it with a damp towel just to keep it from drying out.
Then this is melted butter.
I'm just going to brush a little bit on the bottom of parchment.
Then we start layering.
I'm going to put down two sheets of filo dough and brush
that with some butter.
I'm using unsalted butter, I would recommend that.
Some recipes will also call for olive oil or a mixture of both.
Whatever's your preference, but this makes it a little
more sweeter.
Then I'm going to fold these little overlapping edges down.
You could double this recipe and make it in a 11 by 17 pan or a 13 by 9
inch pan.
Then you wouldn't have to do any folding, the sheets just slip
right in, just slip right in between the sheets.
Get these edges covered.
Two more, and I'm going to go the other direction this time since I'm
folding them.
Jesus, that took forever.
I'm going to put down about a third of my sugary sweet nuts.
Just try to get as even as you can.
I'm going to do two more filo layers with butter.
Then for or the top layer, you just want to do exactly what you did on the
bottom, two layers of dough, butter until you run out of dough sheets.
Then once you start getting towards the top here
too, you want to push the edges down and make sure you're getting plenty of
butter all around there to help those edges seal up.
I'm just going to, before I butter it, just press it
down around the edges again just to get this tight seal around the edges.
Then glue it all shut with the last of your butter.
Muy importante.
Before you bake it, you've got to cut it into triangles or
squares or rectangles or whatever the hell you want.
If you wait till after you cut it, if you don't score it first, you're
just going to crush all the layers when you go to cut it.
I like to do diamonds, it's pretty traditional.
I'm using a serrated steak knife here.
It's a little delicate, you have to hold the layers down.
You don't need to worry about getting all the way through.
You just want to at least get through half of it.
We end up with six diagonal lines.
Then I'm going to go this direction, probably make five or six.
Now I'm going to put this in the oven at 325 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
Then I'm going o reduce the heat to 300 and let
it go for another 45 minutes to 60 minutes until it's puffed up, golden
brown.
If you'd rather not mess with remembering to change temperature
later, you can just cook it at 300 for 2 hours.
It's not going to get quite as puffed up, but it'll still be crispy and
delicious.
I promise.
When you're timer says 30 minutes left, that's when it's time to make the
honey syrup.
We're going to go to the stove and do that.
Put 1 cup of water in a pot.
You're going to add 6 tablespoons of sugar, 1 little shred of
lime and some lemon juice.
Get the sugar dissolved and then bring the liquid up to a boil.
Once it boils, reduce the heat and let it simmer for
15 minutes uncovered.
Stir it occasionally.
After 15 minutes, I'm going to add our honey.
Simmer it for another 5 minutes and then remove from the heat.
Baklava is beautiful.
It's brown, it's crispy.
I've seen several different recipes.
Some of them will say to pour cold syrup over hot baklava.
Some of them will say hot syrup over hot baklava.
I don't really know if it matters.
I just do what's most convenient which is usually hot syrup, hot
baklava.
Just pour it evenly.
This is another reason we cut it first so that it has
lots of little nooks and crannies for that syrup to go into.
If you wanted to flavor the syrup with some orange flower
water or some rose water, you could add that in at the end too after you
take it off the heat.
Now you just want to let this cool.
If you can refrigerate it overnight, that's ideal.
You definitely need to let it cool for a few hours so that it's not molten
sugar water.
All right, cooled off, you can lift it out with your parchment
paper wings.
Then just get a big chef knife and cut through the rest of the
way.
Oh, my gosh, it's so awesome and flaky and delicious.
I'm going to take this funky little triangle shaped piece.
Oh, my gosh look at that.
Look at those beautiful layers in there.
If you like this recipe, also check out my fruit tart recipe.
That would be another really good Easter dessert.
Also, check out Spanakopita for another recipe to use filo dough with.
Meanwhile, I'm' going to have a taste of this and none for the dogs.
I hope you like this recipe.
Please leave a comment.
Printable recipes are always available at hilahcooking.com.
That is the most reliable way to reach me if you have
an important recipe question or comment.
Go check that out.
Visit me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, all
that stuff.
I hope you try this recipe, it's super yummy and really not too
difficult.