Try this beautiful classic Greek dessert made with almonds, thin filo and cinnamon. It’s absolutely fabulous!
Serves: 30 pieces Prep. time: 20′ Cooks in: 50′ Ready in: 1:10′
Ingredients
For the baklava
450 g very thin filo for pastries
1½ cup butter, melted
For the stuffing
4 cups almonds, finely chopped or crushed
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp dried breadcrumbs, finely chopped
1 tbsp cinnamon, powder
For the syrup
3½ cups sugar
3½ cups water
1 cinnamon stick
½ lemon, juiced + 1 piece of lemon peel
½ cup honey
Method
Step 1
Combine water, sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon peel in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and stir to help sugar dissolve. Allow to simmer uncovered for 7 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and boil for another 3 min. Stir in honey and remove pan from heat.
Step 2
Stuffing: Preheat oven to 180C/fan. In a bowl combine crushed almonds with sugar, cinnamon and breadcrumbs. Divide in three.
Step 3
Open the filo pastry and cover with dump cloth to prevent it from drying. Place the first filo with its long side horizontally in front of you and brush it with butter. Sprinkle with a little stuffing. Cover with the second buttered filo and a little stuffing. Continue until the first 1/3 of the stuffing finishes. Top with a fifth filo brushed with butter. Roll in a cylinder and set aside. Repeat he procedure until you have used the other 2/3 of the stuffing and all the filo pastry.
Step 4
Using a sharp knife cut the baklava rolls into slices (about 5 cm thick). Place in a round baking dish with the cut side covering the bottom of the dish. Drizzle with the rest of the melted butter. Bake for 1 hour or until nicely colored and crunchy.
Step 5
While baklava is still piping hot, pour cold syrup evenly over the baklava. Let it bubble up then settle. Leave baklava to cool down to room temperature before serving.
Photo: Vangelis Paterakis – Food styling: Antonia Kati
Και η συνταγή στα ελληνικά: Ρολά μπακλαβά με αμύγδαλα και μέλι
