Baklava is a typical Turkish cuisine dessert or cake. Although it is not the easiest sweet to make, mainly because it is made up of several layers, it is one of the most delicious Arabic sweets that exists. Turkish baklaba is a teatime classic, but it can also be served as a dessert.
As we said, this sweet is made from layers of phyllo dough and a filling made with sugar, nuts and cinnamon. Undoubtedly, an explosion of sweet and aromatic flavors, a perfect and exotic dessert for those with a sweet tooth. Therefore, in this article we share this delicious recipe, so take note, discover how to make Turkish baklava following the original recipe and get down to work.
Ingredients to make Baklava:
- 400 grams of walnuts
- 150 grams of almonds
- 10 sheets of phyllo dough
- 2 cloves
- 1 lemon
- 5 dessert spoons of orange blossom water
- 300 grams of sugar (1½ cups)
- 300 cubic centimeters of water
- 2 dessert spoons of cinnamon
- 150 grams of lard or butter
- 1 handful of chopped pistachios to decorate
How to make Baklava:
- We will mix the cinnamon, 100 grams of sugar, almonds and finely chopped walnuts, but without pulverizing them.
- You can chop the nuts in a blender or use an electric hand mixer. They should not be pulverized because the baklava dessert is characterized by noticing those small pieces.
- Melt the butter without letting it boil and paint the base of a mold suitable for the oven with it. It is preferable to use a rectangular mold. Ours is about 25 cm long.
- Tip: Save the leftover butter because you will need it throughout the recipe.
- On that first layer of melted butter, place two sheets of phyllo dough also painted with the melted butter. You can also substitute the phyllo dough for puff pastry, but in this case you must eliminate the butter from the recipe and be clear that the texture of the dessert will change a bit.
- Hack: If you don’t have phyllo dough, you can take dumpling tops, sprinkle with cornstarch, place the end of one on top of the other and stretch them to join and flatten them more.
- Add a little of the mixture of nuts, sugar and cinnamon, distributing it throughout the dough. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
- Repeat the step of putting 2 or 3 sheets of phyllo dough again, always painting with the melted butter between each of the layers so that the baklava has that crunchy touch and is similar to puff pastry, but without being so.
- Add another layer of fruit and sugar and repeat the previous steps again until you finish with the filling.
- The last layer should be phyllo dough. Reserve the preparation in the refrigerator for 25 minutes so that it compacts better.
- Then, cut into triangles or squares, since the Arabic baklava can be found in both presentations. Bake at 180ºC for 15 minutes.
- While the baklava is baking, prepare the syrup that you will use to coat it. To do this, put the remaining sugar, cloves and lemon peel in a saucepan and heat over medium heat.
- Add the lemon juice, orange blossom water, and water and bring to a boil. When it starts to boil, let it cook for 10 minutes.
- Tip: To make the baklava with milk, add 200 ml of milk to the syrup.
- When the baklava is done, remove it from the oven. You’ll know it’s done when you see it’s golden.
- Depending on the type of oven, it may take a little longer.With the syrup still hot, bathe the preparationso that it absorbs those flavors and aromas.
- Put the dessert back in the fridge until it is completely cold.
- Serve the baklava recipe with chopped nuts on top, such as chopped pistachios, which may or may not be caramelized, which is the most typical.
- Arabic sweets are a delight and we can make them at home without any problem, since all the ingredients are easy to find.
- It is true that they are somewhat elaborate, but the result is incredible and very aromatic.
- Trick: To make the caramelized pistachios you just have to chop them, toast them in the oven for 5 minutes and mix them with melted sugar.
