Lebanese baklawa is similar to Greek baklava, but is often flavoured with cardamom and orange blossom or rose water. No book of Middle Eastern desserts would be complete without it – which is why chef and food blogger Lamees Attar-Bashi includes a collection of baklawa-inspired recipes in her first cookbook. Middle Eastern Delights: 60 Delicious, One-of-A-Kind Treats You Need to Try is filled with irresistible recipes like Baklawa Cheesecake and Baklawa Pull-Apart Bread – but Attar-Bashi made sure to include a recipe for the classic dessert. This recipe is her mother’s, and holds a special place in her heart. She writes: “Growing up in the U.K., I remember my mum always making baklawa when we had people over. She would use a large round pan, add the soft layers of filo pastry and a thick layer of crushed walnuts in between. She would drizzle warm butter then bake it until it was crisp and flaky. She would then drizzle the cardamom-infused simple sugar syrup on top as soon as it was out of the oven – what a sensational sizzling sound that would make! Our guests would wait anxiously for it and every time my mum would bring that large pan out, it would receive a huge standing ovation. At that young age of six, I never quite understood the commotion surrounding it. But now that I’m older (and hopefully wiser), I understand why this simple but yet elegant dessert deserved all that and much more. It truly is a masterpiece of design and flavour!”
Middle Eastern Baklawa
Ingredients
- 3¼ cups crushed walnuts
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- avocado oil spray
- 1 16–oz (454-g) pkg filo dough thawed
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted
Simple Syrup
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 3-4 cardamom pods
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
For Garnishing
- ground walnuts or pistachios
- dried rose petals optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (160°C).
- In a large bowl, mix the crushed walnuts with the granulated sugar until well combined. Set this aside. Spray the avocado oil into a 12-inch (30-cm) round pan. Place two sheets of the dough into the pan, folding any extra dough inwards. Then spray the top completely with the avocado oil. Place another two pieces of the dough and repeat the process until you have ten filo sheets in total. Spread half of the nut mixture evenly over the base layer of filo dough. Add another eight layers of the dough, spraying every two layers with the avocado oil. Add the remaining half of the nut mixture. Then top it off with twelve more layers of filo dough, spraying avocado oil every two layers. Lastly, spray the top of the baklawa with oil, just before cutting to prevent the top layer from moving. With a sharp knife, cut straight and diagonal slices, all the way through creating diamond shaped pieces. Drizzle the melted butter on top evenly and through all the cuts. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the top is golden.
- While the baklawa is baking, prepare the sugar syrup. Add the sugar and water to a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Let it boil until all the sugar has been fully dissolved, around 7 to 10 minutes. Next, add the cardamom pods and let it continue to boil until reduced to two thirds (around 15 minutes). Just before removing from heat, add the lemon juice and set aside to cool completely (30 to 45 minutes). Take the baklawa out of the oven and pour sugar syrup on top while still hot. Let the baklawa cool completely uncovered for around 30 minutes.
- Garnish with ground walnuts or pistachios and rose petals, if using.
Notes
- It is essential that when pouring sugar syrup on any dessert that the syrup is room temperature. If you pour hot syrup on a hot dessert, it will make it soggy and extra sweet in flavour. However, when it’s room temperature, the dessert remains crunchy for several days with just the right amount of sweetness.
- A great hack: baklawa usually calls for brushing melted butter in between layers but if you have ever tried this method, you would know how hard it is to brush over a filo dough, due to how delicate and fragile those layers are. Therefore, I started using avocado spray instead. It’s much easier, faster and gets the job done with the exact same results and taste.
- This is a double layered nut baklawa, meaning it has two layers of nuts. I’ve found that separating the nut mixture into two layers instead of one, prevents the nut mixture from becoming bulky and hard and provides a more airy and flaky texture to the overall baklawa.
