Homemade Sweet Baklava

Baklava is delicious sweet treat that I grow up with. It is too strong for me and it is definitely not guilt free dessert that's why I am making Baklava rarely. 

I have this post in draft for while now and totally forgot all about it, since I don't have Baklava in my collection of recipes, today is the day that you'll see this sweet beauty on my blog!:)

Little bit about Baklava:

Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of Filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and much of central and southwest Asia. Now days Baklava is made in many households and pastry shops all over the world with their own version and this is mine!

I added chocolate syrup because I loved the idea and it gives that extra kick and flavor to each bite, and I cut sugar in half because I substituted it with pure honey.
~ Chocolate (addition) idea came from one amazing blogger ~Chelsea aka "Sprinkles of Parsley" ..however I only used bit of chocolate Syrup, and you can check her fantastic Baklava version with chocolate garnish here!

Ingredients:

• 1 package phyllo dough(Fillo), defrosted
• 1/2 Lb (1cup/225g ) chopped mixed nuts + 1/4 cup sugar 
• 1/3 of cup(75.6g ) unsalted butter, or oil

Syrup:

• 2 cupful (474ml) water
• 1/4 cup (56g) sugar
• 1 Lemon + lemon zest
• 1/3 cup (75.6ml ) honey, for syrup

Chocolate for ganache *optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C).
2. Butter or oil the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
3. Chop nuts and mix with sugar and set aside.
4. Let the Fillo dough get defrosted to be at the room temp. if you open up the package always cover the dough with the sightly wet cloth to prevent from drying . Once at the room temp. Unroll and cut whole stack in half to fit pan.
5. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work.
6. Place 5 sheets of dough in bottom of a pan, butter thoroughly.
7. Sprinkle 3 Tbs. of nut mixture on top.
8. Put 10 more sheets and in between butter/oil it just a little- and use the rest of nuts mixture ~layer it and fill/sprinkle as you go for each sheet.
9. The top layer should be about 8 sheets thick.
10. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan.
11. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts.
12. Bake for about 40 minutes or until baklava is golden and crisp.

Syrup:

1. Start making syrup before you start baklava. It will give enough time for the syrup to cool down. Or look the tip bellow!
2. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add honey, lemon juice and lemon zest.
3. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the syrup become thicker (it needs to be really thick so you might end up simmering for more than 20 min.)
4. Once baklava is done, remove from the oven and immediately spoon cold syrup over it.

Let it cool down completely and enjoy this sweet and delicious treat!

*Tip: Hot syrup is going on cold baklava, OR cold syrup on hot baklava. You can see what is working the best for you! If you want your phyillo dough to soak in the syrup than use this method! If you like more sweet, and juicy just increase amount of water and sugar!!!! 

Enjoy!

Your friend,

Sandra