Bakhlawa

The above picture is an entry for CLICK:Crust

OK, so here comes the Queen of Arabian desserts.... baklawa(or baqlawa or bakhlava)....

Baklava is a Mediterranean dessert made with Phyllo dough, nuts, butter, and sugar. After baking to perfection, a sweet syrup is immediately poured over the pieces allowing the syrup to be absorbed into the layers.

It is one of my favourite mediterranean dessert,with just the right amount of sweetness.Again this has different versions,greeks make it one way,arabs make it the other way,some use sugar syrup,and some use honey,some use vanilla and some use orange blossoms, so lets just stick to the basic bakhlawa recipe, once you master this ,you can go on and try other variations.
I prefer selected bakeries for this because many bakeries put lottt of syrup making it gooey, I like it crisp.
If you are somewhere near chicago,you will love the bakhlawa in a store called nusrath on Kedzie road,and right next to it,you will find an arabic restaurant,ypu will love the arabic food there.
Here in Dubai,its literally found in every other bakery!
Things to remember while baking this pastry are, to always take care of the temparature, since little high or low temperature may make it very hard or undone .



Ingredients:
for pastry:

1)phyllo dough sheets-1 packet
2)melted butter-1 cup
3)chopped nuts(your choice)-1.5 cup
4)nutmeg powder,cinnamon powder-1/4 tsp
5)ground pistachio for decorating

for syrup:
1)2 cups sugar
2)1.5 cup water
3)juice of 2 lemon

--place sugar, water and lemon in a pot and let come to boil, let simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat,and let cool completely before adding to sweet.
--Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
--Mix nuts, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon .
--Butter each later of the philo dough,with the help of a brush,or if u dont have brush you can use a cotton swab to spread the butter on the philo sheets, and layer 4 sheets at a time then add nuts and repeat the layers.
--Cut the pastry,with a greased knife into any shape, most commonly squares or diamond shape. Place in oven and cook for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.
--Drizzle the baklava while in the pan with the simple syrup and then let cool completely before serving. Top each piece with ground pistachio.

Enjoy!!