Celebrate National Baklava Day with this Recipe

What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘sweet pastry’, ‘honey’ and ‘nuts’? BAKLAVA!

And today is National Baklava Day. To celebrate, we share a recipe from Greek-American television personality, Maria Menounos, which has been passed down from her mum.

In Maria’s words, “it is easy to make”.

Baklava

A traditional and rich Greek dessert made with layers of phyllo pastry, which are filled with chopped walnuts and then drenched in a lemon, orange syrup.

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
2. Chop the walnuts in very small pieces.
3. In a small bowl, mix all the dry ingredients: bread crumbs, cinnamon, cloves, walnuts, and sugar.
4. Roll open the filo and pour a cup of the dry mix onto the filo dough. Use your hands to spread the dry mix evenly across the dough’s top sheet.
5. Start at the bottom of the filo roll upwards tightly. When you get to the top take the entire roll and slide it down to the bottom and re-roll the entire piece again.
6. Before re-rolling, butter the entire roll with the brush.
7. Place each roll in a 9x13x2 and butter the top layers of each roll.
8. Roll top filo as tight as you can and slide it at the beginning of the second filo.
9. Repeat this until mix is gone. Now take a sharp knife and pre-slice it to the size you like before baking.
10. Bake for 40 -45 minutes or until golden brown.
11. Take it out of the oven to cool down.
12. Syrup: In a large pot, add all the syrup ingredients. Boil until syrupy…then cool off.
13. When syrup is cool pour onto baklava and let it sit until it absorbs.

*You can also watch the video of her cooking demonstration here: