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orange blossom baklava
Alright, so I am doing a cleanse right now. Basically, for the last 5 days, and for at least the next five, I drink lemonade made from maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice. Brooke started me on it.
Among the many benefits it provides, it is supposed to be helping me cure cravings for various naughty foods. It must be day 5 that really lets me have it, because let me tell you. I have never wanted lasagna, chips and dip, pizza, pasta, soup, cheese, couscous, and whatever else you’re serving more than I wanted it today. The most terrible thing today was making this warm buttery baklava. I was able to make it while I am cleansing because I already tried out the recipe a few weeks ago on the women at church, and therefore didn’t have to taste it to see if it was good enough to post. And I was so good. I didn’t even lick it, well maybe just a little of the honey that dribbled off.
My recipe uses orange blossom water
baklava with almonds and orange blossom water
4 cups (650g) sliced almonds
3/4 cup (140g) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 pound (450g) package phyllo dough, defrosted in refrigerator for 24 hours
2 sticks (224g) salted butter, plus up to 1 stick (110g) more in reserve in case you run out of it before you finish the baklava
1 1/2 cups (350mL) honey
juice of 1 orange
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 cardamom pods, crushed with the bottom of a cup measure
4 or 5 inches orange peel
1 cinnamon stick
5-6 whole cloves
1-2 teaspoons orange blossom water
kosher salt
1. Position a rack in the top third of the oven, and a second in the bottom third. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200 degrees celsius). In a food processor, grind up almonds, sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground cardamom, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
2. Melt 2 sticks (224g) of butter, and leave the reserve butter unmelted until you need it. Line a half sheet pan (one of those aluminum 18 x 13″ cookie sheets) with parchment paper.*
3. Begin layering your baklava. Place a sheet of the phyllo dough on the bottom of the pan and cover the rest of the sheets with a slightly damp kitchen towel. Brush the phyllo in the pan with a thin layer of butter. Repeat with 3-4 layers. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the almond mixture. Continue to layer in this manner (3-4 layers of butter and phyllo, followed by 1/3 of the almond mixture) until the almond mixture is used up. Melt additional butter whenever it is needed. Finish by layering 4-8 sheets of phyllo with butter, ending with butter.
4. Using a very sharp knife, trim the edges of the baklava, so you have a neatly trimmed rectangle in the center. Slice the rectangle evenly into 24 squares, then cut each square on the diagonal to form triangles.
5. Bake on the rack placed in the top third of the oven for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan, and put back in the bottom third of the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until triangles are puffed and golden brown.
6. While baklava bakes, prepare the syrup. In a small saucepan, bring honey, orange juice, lemon juice, cardamom pods, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon stick, orange blossom water, and salt to a boil, and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Strain.
7. As soon as the baklava comes out of the oven, pour strained honey syrup all over the baklava, making sure to douse all the cracks with the liquid. Allow to cool for up to an hour and serve warm. Or refrigerate after completely cool.
* This is a very important step if you are using aluminum. The honey syrup has citrus in it and will react to the aluminum. If you don’t have any parchment paper, then you might try a non reactive pan—something made out of glass or stainless steel.
This looks fantastic. My father learned to make Baklava (with a different pronunciation) from his Lebanese grandmother, who made her own phyllo. It is a family tradition to make it every Christmas. The recipe we use is from a Syrian cookbook, and calls for pistachios. We generally substitute walnuts. Our syrup doesn’t use honey, but does call for Rose Water, which was quite difficult to find for many years, especially in Japan, but is now much easier to get.
Oh, I’m glad it looks good to you, Connie. How would you like some tonight?
Now I am in heaven…you are speaking my language. How I love baklava… Did we ever stop at any of the patisseries for baklava, or were we stricky bagels? I will be trying these out within the next few days… It will be hard to top the fruit salsa but I will give it a go.
Happy day
This is amazing! Now I’m craving me some baklava!
I would LOVE some!!!!
Good golly, Jamie. Please tell me you’ve tucked some of this inside your freezer? It’s vegan, right? If not, say yes anyway and we’ll lick our platters clean a few days from now.
Oh! And Stanley Burroughs says day 3 and 5 are the hardest (and sometimes 7). Hang in there! Day 8 is when all cravings pass!
This looks soo yummy!
I love baklava.. then I found out about all the butter! They lookk soo good!
I hope that you continue to do well with the cleanse. I literally had ONE DOSE and lost all bodily functions. It was not a pretty thing–carpooling and wham-Oh no!!
I wish I had half your strength when it comes to resisting the goods, all that golden goodness and not even a pinch? Wow, I don’t think I could do that.
Way to stay strong. I’m super impressed! You’re doing great on your cleanse. This baklava looks amazing. Just incredible. I love your use of the orange blossom water. How fantastic!! I’ve been craving some baklava as of late; I may just have to give into this craving
That baklava looks great! I like the sound of the orange flavour in it.
Wow, what a gorgeous picture. I can’t even resist licking the screen.
The baklava looks wonderful. I love the idea of orange water being used. I’ve never tried to make baklava before, and I don’t particularly enjoy the baklava I buy from local bakeries. There’s nothing like GOOD baklava, and I haven’t had it in years! I may have to give this recipe a try. Thanks for sharing.
Yum! I wish I could eat that every day!
Re: eating the honey… honey is natural – think about it that way, and it probably made you smile, so those are both good things.
Second…Your website has set me back completely this morning. There are so many good things to look at and try…I’ve already shown my boyfriend a few I want to make. Keep up the great job, and your hubby did a good job with your picture – simple elegance.
Looking foward to reading your other posts!