Baklavas: Ultra easy & succulent recipe
Baklava with almonds, walnuts and pistachiosEasy Baklava rolls recipe
KarmaWeather invites you to try an oriental baklava recipe, delicious, simple and quick to make. This recipe is all the easier since it does not require weighing the ingredients, which is often essential in baking. If the famous Turkish baklavas are often prepared with vegetable oil, our recipe uses butter, which brings a crunch and a more refined taste.
We accompany you step by step, in each step of the recipe, which we describe with our remarks and suggestions.
Level: easy / beginner
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 40 min at 180°C
Which Chinese zodiac signs love baklavas the most?
In Chinese astrology, the sweet taste is related to the element Earth. If the pistachio, by its green nuances, can also be associated with the element Wood, it is also the element Earth which dominates for the dried fruits. Therefore, the Chinese zodiac signs most naturally inclined to appreciate the baklavas are the natives of the Year of the Ox, the Year of the Dragon, the Year of the Goat and the Year of the Dog.
Ingredients and utensils
Ingredients
- Syrup: water and sugar
- Phyllo dough: at least 10 rectangular leaves
- Filling: almonds, nuts and pistachios powder, 2 to 3 tablespoons icing sugar, vanilla
- Decoration: almonds or pistachios powder
Utensils
- Pan (for the syrup)
- Dish (for the oven)
- Kitchen brush (silicone or natural bristles)
- Bowl (for the melted butter)
- Plate (for the dried fruit garnish)
- Knife (to cut the baklava rolls)
Syrup
Duration: 10 mins
For the syrup, pour about two glasses of water for a glass of sugar in a pan, knowing that you may have to adjust your proportions later. Bring to a boil over high heat and stir regularly to prevent it from sticking. After a few minutes, you will see that the consistency of the bubbles changes and the liquid becomes thicker. It's ready! Keep the syrup in the pan and set aside. You will need to reheat the syrup after the baklava is cooked, in order to give it a more liquid consistency again allowing you to brush pastries with the kitchen brush. Of course, you can also flavor your syrup with a few drops of rose water or orange blossom. We have chosen not to add any perfume, other than the vanilla present in the garnish.
Butter
Duration: 5 mins
Prefer plain butter to salted butter. If you have a microwave, melt a large piece of butter in a bowl. The quantity of butter depends on the number of phyllo doughs you will use to make your baklava. Start with about 70 to 100 grams of butter. Note that you can choose to replace the butter with sunflower oil. Sunflower oil has a more neutral taste, while butter gives a particular crisp to the baklava.
Filling
Duration: 5 min (15 min if you reduce the dried fruit in powder yourself)
You can use any type of dried fruit to garnish your baklava. For this recipe, we combined almonds, walnuts and pistachios which we passed in the blender to make them into powder. Add vanilla (powder or liquid) and 2 to 3 tablespoons icing sugar (or otherwise normal sugar). Here, the objective of the sugar in the stuffing of the baklava is both to avoid that the sugar from the pastry is brought only from the outside (with the syrup poured after cooking), but also to combine and reinforce the taste of the dried fruit during cooking.
Phyllo dough sheets
Duration: 15 mins
Place a first rectangular sheet of phyllo dough on a work surface. With a kitchen brush, brush the sheet with melted butter, without trying to be homogeneous. You can start by pouring the butter in large drops then harmonize the whole with the brush. Put a second sheet of phyllo dough on top of the first sheet and repeat the same operation with the butter. You can use one sheet, two or even three. It will mainly depend on the size of the sheets of phyllo dough you have planned.
Now place the stuffing on the second sheet of buttered phyllo dough. You can sprinkle the entire surface or concentrate the filling laterally on the side of the rectangle of dough closest to you. Then roll the whole like a pancake, add a little melted butter if necessary at the end to close the roll. Place each roll in your previously greased dish (butter or sunflower oil).
Once you have finished placing your rolls in your container, brush the melted butter with a final stroke on the surface of the baklava. Finally, with a knife, cut your rolls to make individual pieces.
Cooking
Duration: 40 mins
Preheat your oven to 180°C then put your dish in the oven. The cooking will be finished when the baklavas have taken on a golden color. Allow about 40 minutes, but it will depend on your oven and the amount of baklava you have prepared.
Finalization: Application of syrup, decoration
Duration: 10 mins
Once the baklava has finished cooking, reheat the syrup to make it liquid again and pass a first layer of syrup over it, using your kitchen brush. Let sit a little while the pastries become lukewarm. Apply a second layer of syrup. If your syrup has thickened too much, add a little water. The goal is to combine the crispiness on the sides and the top of the baklava and bring tenderness in its heart (where the stuffing is concentrated) and at its base. The syrup must therefore be poured in sufficient quantity to sweeten and soften the pastry, but without putting too much either, at the risk of making the whole disgusting (too sweet) and of soaking it (loss of crispiness). If after the second layer of syrup, the result still seems too dry, then a third layer should do the trick.
Optionally, sprinkle the baklava with powdered pistachios or another dried fruit. Pistachios with their green tint are the most classic and prettiest decoration. For this recipe, we have replaced them with powdered almonds.
Ideally enjoyed from the day after cooking. You can keep your baklavas for several days, preserved in a tupperware and in the refrigerator.
Bon appétit!