Baklava

Baklava is a rich middle east sweet dessert layered with Phyllo sheets and filled mixed nuts and honey.

I bought and tasted Baklava for the first time in Dubai airport. We got addicted to these. My husband who is a frequent traveler to Dubai always brings these for us .

I have been thinking of trying this at home since so many months and finally I did. You can make the filling with nuts like Walnuts, Pistachios, Cashews, Almonds etc. I just added cashews and almonds one cup each. It tasted so good. You can add 2 cups of mixed nuts.

Try it. You will love it .

Ingredients

1 cup Almonds

1 cup Cashew nuts

1 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder / 1 small Cinnamon Stick

1/2 teaspoon ground Cloves / 2 Cloves

1/2 cup melted Butter

1/4 cup Honey

1/4 cup Sugar

Directions

1. Take Phyllo sheets out from freezer, leave them at room temperature for 25 -30 minutes. Cut 10 pyhllo sheets to 30 cm X 15 cm rectangle. Filling which I made is just enough for this size sheets. Make coarse powder of Cashews and Almonds, Cinnamon stick and cloves. If you have cinnamon and clove powders at home , directly add these to the cashew and almond powder instead of adding stick and cloves. 

2. Take the powder into a bowl, add sugar, honey and butter. Mix all these well. This is your filling. Pre- heat the oven at 180 degrees. Brush the baking sheet with butter and place 5 sheets of phyllo sheets on top of each other. Spread the filling all over the sheets evenly. Now place 2 sheets, brush it with butter all over, and place 2 more sheets, brush these with butter again. Finally place the last sheet, pour 2 teaspoons of honey on it and spread it evenly.

3. Now cut the sheets into squares or diamonds with a sharp knife till the bottom of baklava (I forgot to do this so I did this after baking). Bake them for 30 - 35 minutes or until golden and crisp at the top. 

4. Heavenly, Yummy dessert for you.