← Nouns Cooking · Greek

Ingredients

• 300 g Sugar
• 250 ml Water
• 120 g Honey
• 1 Lemon, 1 strip of peel and 1 tbsp juice
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves (optional)
• 450 g Walnuts
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 450 g filo pastry (2 packs)
• 250 g unsalted butter, melted

Method

1. Make the syrup first so it can cool. Put the sugar, water, honey, lemon peel, cinnamon stick and cloves in a pan, stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 10 min. Stir in the lemon juice, fish out the spices and leave to cool completely.
2. Pulse the walnuts in a food processor until coarsely chopped, like gravel rather than dust. Mix in the 2 tbsp sugar and the ground cinnamon.
3. Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan, 340°F) and butter a tin about 23 × 33 cm. Trim the filo to fit if needed and keep it under a damp tea towel.
4. Lay in 8 sheets, brushing each with butter. Scatter over a thin layer of nuts, add 2 buttered sheets, and repeat until the nuts are used up. Finish with 8 more buttered sheets and brush the top well.
5. With a sharp knife, cut all the way through into diamonds or squares before baking. Bake for 50–60 min until deep golden and crisp right through.
6. As soon as it comes out of the oven, slowly spoon the cold syrup over the hot baklava; it should sizzle. Leave uncovered at room temperature for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, so the syrup soaks in.

Tips

• Cold syrup on hot pastry (or hot on cold) keeps it crisp; both hot makes it soggy.
• Store at room temperature under a tea towel, not in the fridge, for up to a week.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Eats BBC Good Food