Happy New Year!!! I've finally got a chance and all the ingredients to make this heavenly Mediterranean dessert - bak lava. If you've never heard of it then you're surely missing out on one of the most divine treats on earth. Don't believe me? Ask anyone who've had it before. It's spiced walnuts and/or pistachios layered between thin flaky phyllo dough and then soaked in a delicious citrus-honey syrup. I used a recipe from Fifteen Spatulas: https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/baklava/
First you want to make sure you have all the utensils necessary, which includes a food processor, a pastry brush and a 9x13 baking pan. Next get all the ingredients listed below:
FOR THE BAKLAVA:
16 oz walnuts
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom (or ground cloves)
1/4 tsp salt
16 oz phyllo dough* thawed
1 cup butter melted
FOR THE SYRUP:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup good quality honey**
1 cinnamon stick
1 strip orange peel
1 strip lemon peel
Here are some simple basic instructions: Process the walnuts, cinnamon, cardamon and salt together. Then layer the phyllo dough basting each one with melted butter. Put the walnut mixture in between the phyllo dough in this sequence 6 - 4- 4- 4- 6. (I had 24 strips). Then bake until golden on the edges and tops, about 40-50 mins. Then let cool for at least 15 minutes. In the meantime, make the syrup by adding all the ingredients in a pan and simmering for 5 minutes. Pour evenly over the bak-lava and leave to cool at room-temperature uncovered for 6-8 hours. Then enjoy!
The toughest challenge was handling the phyllo dough since its very thin but make sure to keep a damp cloth over the dough to keep it from drying out because it gets even harder to handle.
Happy bak-lava making! Let me know if you tried it out and if you agree that it's one of the BEST desserts ever!
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