Baklava is a primarily Middle Eastern dessert that can also be found in Southwest and Central Asia as well as the Mediterranean. Its origins date back to the Ottoman Empire. It is a pastry like dessert that tastes very sweet and is very dense in texture. Because of its richness, it is served and eaten in very small portions.
It is essentially made up of multiple layers of filo pastry with a filling of honey or syrup and also chopped nuts. Though it is prepared in a large pan, it is cut up into much smaller bite-sized portions in different shapes prior to baking. The most common shapes for it are triangles, rectangles or parallelograms.
To make this dessert, multiple layers of phyllo dough are laid down in the baking pan. These layers are separated by butter that has been melted. A layer of chopped nuts is then placed on these layers; the most commonly used nuts are pistachios or walnuts, but hazelnuts could also be substituted. Further layers of phyllo are then placed over the layer of nuts.
Once the pastry has been cooked, a syrup is then poured over it. This gives it its intense, sweet flavor. The syrup can contain honey, or even rosewater. In some parts of Turkey, this dessert is topped with milk cream flavored ice cream during the summer or a specially prepared topping called 'kaymak'.
Across the region where the dessert is common, different ways of preparing it are noted, sometimes with additional or substitute ingredients. One of the reasons for varied methods of preparation is religion. An example of this is how the Greeks prepare it using the same number of layers of dough as the number of years Christ lived.
Paklava is the name given to the same dessert in Armenia. There, ingredients like cinnamon and cloves are also included. Sour cream and also vanilla are just two of the many ingredients used in Georgia. Egg yolks can be used to prepare the pastry dough in Albania. The Persian style of this dessert does not taste as rich or sweet as in the Middle East.
You can find phyllo dough at any major supermarket, in the frozen food aisle. While there are many variations on the dessert recipe, you should be able to make this dessert without any difficulty. First, butter a large pan before laying down 2 sheets of the phyllo dough. Brush melted butter onto the top sheet and repeat the previous steps with more sheet of dough until you have 8 layers. Cover the top layer with some chopped nuts mixed with cinnamon. Put 2 more dough layers over this, butter it up and add more nuts.
Finish the pastry with six to eight layers of dough on top. Cut into diamonds and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for fifty minutes. To make the syrup, boil together a cup of water and a cup of white sugar. Add to the mixture one teaspoon of vanilla extract and also a half cup of honey. Let it simmer for twenty minutes then pour over the pastry as soon as it comes out of the oven. Serve at room temperature.
It is essentially made up of multiple layers of filo pastry with a filling of honey or syrup and also chopped nuts. Though it is prepared in a large pan, it is cut up into much smaller bite-sized portions in different shapes prior to baking. The most common shapes for it are triangles, rectangles or parallelograms.
To make this dessert, multiple layers of phyllo dough are laid down in the baking pan. These layers are separated by butter that has been melted. A layer of chopped nuts is then placed on these layers; the most commonly used nuts are pistachios or walnuts, but hazelnuts could also be substituted. Further layers of phyllo are then placed over the layer of nuts.
Once the pastry has been cooked, a syrup is then poured over it. This gives it its intense, sweet flavor. The syrup can contain honey, or even rosewater. In some parts of Turkey, this dessert is topped with milk cream flavored ice cream during the summer or a specially prepared topping called 'kaymak'.
Across the region where the dessert is common, different ways of preparing it are noted, sometimes with additional or substitute ingredients. One of the reasons for varied methods of preparation is religion. An example of this is how the Greeks prepare it using the same number of layers of dough as the number of years Christ lived.
Paklava is the name given to the same dessert in Armenia. There, ingredients like cinnamon and cloves are also included. Sour cream and also vanilla are just two of the many ingredients used in Georgia. Egg yolks can be used to prepare the pastry dough in Albania. The Persian style of this dessert does not taste as rich or sweet as in the Middle East.
You can find phyllo dough at any major supermarket, in the frozen food aisle. While there are many variations on the dessert recipe, you should be able to make this dessert without any difficulty. First, butter a large pan before laying down 2 sheets of the phyllo dough. Brush melted butter onto the top sheet and repeat the previous steps with more sheet of dough until you have 8 layers. Cover the top layer with some chopped nuts mixed with cinnamon. Put 2 more dough layers over this, butter it up and add more nuts.
Finish the pastry with six to eight layers of dough on top. Cut into diamonds and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for fifty minutes. To make the syrup, boil together a cup of water and a cup of white sugar. Add to the mixture one teaspoon of vanilla extract and also a half cup of honey. Let it simmer for twenty minutes then pour over the pastry as soon as it comes out of the oven. Serve at room temperature.
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