Jamie Magazine
By Joss Herd
1 hr 20 mins
Not Too Tricky
makes 24
Recipe From
Ingredients
• 100g each of walnuts, almonds and pistachios
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 200g butter
• 2 x 270g packs filo pastry (12 sheets)
SYRUP
• 300g sugar
• 100ml Greek honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 strips of orange zest
• 2 teaspoons orange flower water
Method
This Greek classic is a heady combination of nuts, honey, citrus and spices, sandwiched between crispy filo layers
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Place all the syrup ingredients in a medium saucepan with 300ml of water and bring to a gentle simmer. Let it bubble away, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by a third. Leave to cool. (The syrup must be cool when it is poured over the pastry otherwise the pastry will go soggy.)
- Blitz the nuts in a food processor until coarse, then tip into a bowl and stir through the cinnamon and cloves.
- Melt the butter, using a little of it to lightly grease a 40 x 25cm shallow tin with a pastry brush. Gently unfold the filo and cover with a damp tea towel to stop it cracking.
- Layer sheets of filo in the tin and brush each layer with melted butter. After 4 layers, scatter over half the nut mixture; repeat with 4 layers of filo, then the rest of the nuts. Top with the last 4 layers of filo, then generously butter the top. Cut into diamonds with a sharp knife – ensure the blade goes right to the bottom.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven on a hot baking sheet for 30–35 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp, reducing the temperature to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3 if the baklava looks as though it is browning too quickly.
- Remove the baklava from the oven and spoon half the cooled syrup over the top. Leave for 5 minutes, then spoon over the remaining syrup. Allow the baklava to cool before removing the individual pieces from the dish with a palette knife.
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