Nutty, sweet baklava with loads of honey and hints of cardamom and cinnamon. The honey for this baklava came from a friend who has recently set up his own beehives; it is so delicious I can eat it with a spoon. Serve the baklava as a dessert with a little Greek yoghurt; one piece will never be enough.
Syrup
1 cup | Sugar (Main) |
½ cup | Runny honey (Main) |
1 | Cinnamon stick |
½ tsp | Ground cardamom |
1 | Lemon, juice of, plus 4 pieces of peel |
1 cup | Water |
2 Tbsp | Light corn syrup, optional |
Base
3 ½ cups | Chopped nuts, pistachios and walnuts (Main) |
½ cup | Sugar |
2 tsp | Ground cinnamon |
¼ tsp | Ground cardamom |
½ cup | Melted butter |
375 g | Filo pastry (Main) |
Directions
- Set oven to 170C.
- To make syrup place sugar, honey, cinnamon, cardamom, lemon, water and corn syrup in a pot. Simmer for 15 minutes until syrupy and reduced slightly. Set aside to cool.
- Mix together nuts, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom.
- Brush base of a 20 x 30cm tin with melted butter. Trim sides of filo to fit tin. Spread out 2 sheets of filo then spread with butter. Continue until base is 8 layers thick. Sprinkle a third of nuts and sugar over.
- Layer with another 2 sheets of filo, butter and another third of the nuts, then repeat. For the top, layer 2 filo sheets and butter until it is 6-8 layers thick. Butter top. Cut four even strips lengthwise down the tin. Cut on a diagonal into diamonds.
- Bake for 30 minutes. If too brown after 10 minutes, cover with foil and continue to cook. Remove foil for the last 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour half the syrup over. Cool for 30 minutes then add remaining syrup. Baklava will keep for up to two weeks.