Baklava

New year day!!! For me, it always started with a visit to temple, wishing family a happy new year, visiting family n relatives on the same day, eating lots of munchies/sweets, welcoming many guests during the day n much more… Naaah, I wasn’t expecting anything out of these here :P But yes, it was one of the best evenings in duration of this 1 year :)

Let me shout out loud, I received my visa on this day a year back… So it was definitely super-special last year!!! But being here, you can never expect to have same Diwali celebration like home :( Still to get all positive vibes of being surrounded by family, we planned inviting friends over dinner! As it’s going to be a public holiday the next day (i.e. today), everyone was in for a Diwali celebration :) And you already know, I never get tired of cooking… I made pavbhaji, tawa pulao for dinner n a mocha cake for dessert! But as I’m not having a big sweet tooth, I was wondering what to make for sweets!!! Have had a pack of phyllo pastry sitting idle, so decided to try out baklava for the 1st time… Had it several times before but never got to make in-house! What else can be the best day to experiment on friends??!!! ;) And believe me, it was a pretty successful one… I was delighted to hear the comments from everyone :)

Yes… I wasn’t scared of taking a risk as a cute buddy was to bring delicious home-made ‘Gajar ka Halwa’ :) I must confess that even though baklava was at its best, I ate more of halwa last night :P

N I’m happier ‘coz there’s no roll of baklava left in the container, so I’ve one more chance of trying out soon with a twist :P But for now, I’m so much thanking all these lovely friends for making a new year evening special :) Hope to see you all very soon!!!

Makes: 15 Rolls

INGREDIENTS:

10 Sheets Phyllo Pastry
1/2 cup Butter (unsalted)
1/2 cup Almonds
1/2 cup Walnuts
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/2 cup Caster Sugar

For Sugar Syrup–

1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Water
1 tsp Lemon Juice

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

1. In a mixture jar, take almonds, walnuts, cinnamon powder and caster sugar and grind them to make a coarse mixture.
2. Take one sheet and generously apply melted butter over it.
3. Arrange one more sheet on top of this sheet and again apply butter over it.
4. Spread approx 1 tbsp of nuts mixture evenly and start rolling it from short end.
5. Apply butter on every alternate fold of it.
6. Grease a baking tray with butter and arrange this roll in it. Repeat the same process for other 4 rolls.
7. Once arranged in a tray, apply butter over it one more time.
8. Bake for 30-35 mins in pre-heated oven on 180 degrees or until they are golden brown in color.
9. Take the tray out and cool it down to room temp. And then cut each roll into 3 pieces.
10. Mix all ingredients of sugar syrup and bring them to boil on high heat. Once boiled, simmer it for 10 mins on medium heat and turn off the heat.
11. When it’s warm (not hot), pour it over the rolls. Let them soak sugar syrup for 10-15 mins and transfer to a serving plate.
12. Super-duper Baklava is ready to serve!!!

SJ’s NOTE:

• Take a pack of phyllo sheets on the counter until it comes to room temp. This is very important as chilled sheets tend to break during rolling process.
• You can also add pistachio, cashewnuts in mixture.
• I use silicon brush to apply butter on the sheets.