Baklava

The rumoured origins of Baklava lie with the Ottoman empire and like many imperial Byzantine desserts there are no half measures with this dessert. To make the Baklava, I preheated the oven to 180°C and processed 2 cups blanched almonds, 2 cups pistachios, 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoon ground cloves and 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg. After these were finely chopped, I lightly roasted them to add aroma.

While the nuts and spices were roasting in the oven I cut my sheets of filo pastry to the size of a shallow baking pan, melted some butter and started to prepare the dish by laying three sheets of filo pastry for the base. Each sheet is lightly brushed with butter, before laying one third of the nut mixture and repeating the process until you finish with the filo pastry on top. So now you should have completed all three layers. Use a sharp knife to cut your tray into even squares and then halve the squares to form triangles. Pop the entire tray into the oven for 20 minutes.

While the Baklava is baking you can prepare the syrup. Place 2 cups of water, 2 cups of caster sugar, 180g honey and 2 teaspoons of rosewater into a saucepan and reduce until the sugar has dissolved the mixture has thickened.

When the Baklava has finished baking, remove it from the oven and pour the syrup over the pastry. The sound of the syrup hitting the pastry is just gorgeous.