Delicious Baklava with vanilla syrup (Baklawa بقلاوة )

Considering that over the last few months I have lived a sheltered life and barely stopped to notice the weather let alone follow current affairs or even family affairs for that matter, it was quite an achievement to go out for a family barbecue yesterday.  But even more so because I made not just one sweet to take - but two!  On top of that I even managed to make a video of the them!!!

Baklava with vanilla syrup (Baklawa بقلاوة  )

Well, there are no more daily trips to the hospital and no more sick kids to nurture through the day and night so even though I am seriously sleep deprived (my gorgeous bundle wakes me every hour and a half all night, most nights) I feel excited to have made a video.  The first for a while and it was the video I had intended to make the day I went to hospital for some monitoring of the baby and ended up having an emergency caesarean and was out of action for over a month.  That video was for Baklava with vanilla syrup (Baklawa بقلاوة  )

 Check it out here: 

Baklava (Baklawa  بقلاوة  ) is quite a well known Mediterranean sweet and can be found in Turkish, Lebanese and Greek restaurants but it has also become more mainstream in the last few years and available in many places.  While there are many ways to flavour Baklava with the use of vanilla, rose water and orange blossom water, the syrup may also be made with honey which adds a very distinct flavour also.  At home my mum made Baklava with vanilla and I too use vanilla whenever I make this dish, but then I absolutely love the flavour and aroma of vanilla so I cannot go past it for a flavouring in deserts or sweets.  I personally find rose water too strong in many versions of Baklava so I stick with the vanilla.  If you were to use rose or orange blossom water be sure to add a little to the syrup at a time and taste it as you go because it is always easier to add more than it is to try and tone down an overpowering flavour.  Start with a teaspoon at a time would be my suggestion.

Baklava with vanilla syrup (Baklawa بقلاوة  )

Anyway, back to the barbecue, I took the Baklava to lunch and considering it was family (who I would have thought would be over traditional Mediterranean sweets by now) I didn't expect a big response to my dish but I was pleasantly surprised.  Not only was most of it gone by the time I bothered to look, my step mother (bless her heart) told me it was perfect!!  Yay :)

So here it is, my perfect Baklava

Syrup:

2 cups/ 500g sugar

2 cups / 500ml water

½ lemon juiced

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

One quantity of syrup 
2 cups / 225g pistachio, walnuts or almonds, coarsely chopped

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon,

½ teaspoon ground cloves,

375g / 1 packet Filo pastry at room temperature

250g ghee, melted (or unsalted butter if you really cant get hold of ghee, better still, buy the butter and watch my video of how to make Ghee and make some yourself .  Check it out on YouTube here:

Make the syrup and leave to cool.  Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F/Gas mark 4).  Brush the base and sides of a 30 x 25 cm cake tin with melted butter.  In a bowl combine the chopped nuts, sugar, cinnamon and cloves powder.  Remove a single sheet of Filo pastry at a time, fold each sheet in half and place in tray. Brush the top with butter and fold in edges to fit.  Repeat using half the packet of filo pastry making sure to brush with butter on each sheet, overlap and fold the sides where necessary.  Sprinkle the nut mixture over pastry and then continue to layer the pastry with the remaining sheets.  Pour remaining butter over the top.  Cut into diamond or square shapes, making sure to cut right through to the base.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until the Baklava is puffed and lightly golden on top.  Remove Baklava from oven and pour the cooled syrup over the hot Baklava    Leave to cool before cutting along the diagonals again to remove from the tray. 

Note : Cover remaining pastry with a damp tea towel to keep from drying out.  Baklava can be prepared days in advance, stored in the fridge and baked on the day they are to be served.  They will also keep for several days after baking in a cool oven or air tight container, but do not store in the fridge.

Baklava with vanilla syrup (Baklawa بقلاوة  )

Toffees

There are a few really strong memories I have of growing up.  I thought I was Australian in most respects as I didn’t really understand or experience what living in Egypt would have been like.  I thought my parents were strict (certainly compared to many other kids I went to school with) and I wasn’t into sports or much physical activity, and I knew that we ate different food since people would often ask me what Egyptians eat.  I am also pretty sure my siblings and I were the only kids to have cheese and mortadella sandwiches for lunch at school.  I stopped having mortadella (a deli processed meat) when I left school and had it again for the first time in over 15 years recently.  I bought some for my son to try instead of the usual ham.  Now that my first born is at kinder I am exposed to the school activities that accompany school life.  Papers and crafts from the days’ activities and a constant array of fundraising offers.  I am already thinking of all the cakes and slices that would be good for stalls and parties.  Having these things on my mind often leads me back to my childhood and what I experienced growing up when my mum had to make things for me to take along to stalls and parties.  I forgot about one of the all-time classics where school fetes and stalls are concerned - at least they were when I was growing up - the simple and astoundingly popular with children - Toffees.  I had forgotten until a child memory of it came back to me last weekend.

toffee

While I was making wax (refer to blog entitled Wax and Waxing) my oldest asked me what I was doing and why.  The usual conversation with him.  I was explaining that it was wax but made from sugar and naturally that lead to “Can I taste it”.  I said you can taste it before I use it but then you can’t have any more.  I thought that was sufficient for an answer but when he asked me why I went on to say that he would then end up eating hair and dead skin cells  and that can’t be nice.  He settled for a little of the wax, decided that it was good and asked me to make some more wax for him to eat since I was going to use the one in my hand.  I told him he couldn’t eat wax because it was so sticky.  Trust me I said, I tried it once.  I told him there was sugar made into toffee which was hard and you can suck on it and that I would make it for him so he could try that too, then I sent him out of the bathroom to wax in peace.

He didn’t forget and repeatedly asked me to make toffees.  I can’t help but laugh to think of my mum attempting to make me these for a school fete when I was in primary school.  I remember it so well because it was clearly something completely new to her.  All I knew was it was sugar and so she made us toffees just like she made wax.  Sugar, water and lemon (Recipe for wax in the wax blog I mentioned earlier).  Anyway, it was completely inedible.  I tried to eat one but it went everywhere, was distinctly lemony and got stuck to the roof of your mouth, teeth, lips, fingers, clothes…

I know that my son will not have to have that experience but it does bring a smile to my face when I think about my experience of toffee.  So while not a typical Egyptian recipe my mum did attempt to make some the Egyptian way.  I can definitely attest to this being unsuccessful so don’t bother trying to make toffees the Egyptian way.  You can see a video of how to make hard toffees at Dyna’s Egyptian Cooking Channel on YouTube under a separate playlist where my kids feature with their own recipes.  Toffees is now one of them. (Or you can click on the picture below)

Happy sucking!