Baklava
A real discovery—and at the same time quite a challenge—for me. After eating these beautiful little sweets during my trips to Turkey and Jordan (and occasionally in Spain), I had always been curious about how to make them. Phyllo pastry isn’t very well known—or easy to find—in Madrid, and maybe that’s why I kept postponing it indefinitely.
But it turns out that in Germany this dough must be quite common—thanks, apple strudel—because I found it easily in the refrigerated section. So… why not give it a try? I had no more excuses.
The process is somewhat labor-intensive—let’s be honest—but not as much as it seems. Aside from handling and brushing the phyllo pastry, the rest is quite simple. And as you can see in the photo, the result is both visually appealing and irresistible for those with a sweet tooth. Are you up for it?
Ingredients for 12 pieces
1 package of phyllo pastry
200 g chopped walnuts
100 g sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
100 g melted butter
100 g water
1 cinnamon stick
125 g honey
zest of half a lemon
zest of half an orange
Preparation
Mix the walnuts, half of the sugar (50 g), and the cinnamon.
Brush a baking dish with butter and place the first sheet of phyllo pastry. Brush it with butter and repeat this process until you have 7 sheets in the dish.
Spread 1/3 of the walnut mixture over the last sheet of phyllo, previously brushed with butter.
Place 2 more sheets of phyllo on top of the walnut mixture, following the same process (butter between layers and on top of the last one).
Spread another 1/3 of the walnut mixture over the last phyllo sheet.
Add 2 more sheets of phyllo in the same way.
Spread the remaining walnut mixture and repeat the layering process with phyllo sheets until you have 8 layers on top of the final walnut layer.
Cut into individual portions before baking so it doesn’t break afterward.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC for 5 minutes and bake at the same temperature until golden, about 25 minutes.
Now prepare the syrup by boiling the water, the remaining 50 g of sugar, the cinnamon stick, and the lemon and orange zest together in a saucepan. Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the honey and simmer for 2 more minutes.
Remove the zest and cinnamon stick and pour the syrup over the baklava as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Let it cool with the syrup and keep it in the same dish until ready to serve.
Notes
It’s labor-intensive, but not as much as it seems. The most time-consuming part is brushing the phyllo sheets; the rest is quite straightforward.