If you love a naturally sweetened dessert with honey, you’ll love this pistachio baklava recipe. The crispy layers of buttery phyllo and heaps of fragrant pistachios, combine to make an utterly delicious, light yet rich baklava that tastes like it came straight from a Lebanese bakery.
I just love the bold flavours of the savoury pistachios and sweet honey sugar with crispy layers of phyllo dough so me and my friend Christina joined our forces to make this dessert with the target to look and taste as original as possible!
I have to admit it was a success. The only problem is that I am the only one in the house that loves desserts with nuts so you can guess who ate most of it.
What I love about this recipe is how simple it is to make, yet makes a pretty presentation with delicious flavours.
INGREDIENTS:
500gr phyllo sheets
2 cups pistachios (coarsely minced)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons honey
2 tsp pistachio paste (optional) - you can only find in big supermarkets
2 cups melted butter
1/2 cups finely minced pistachios (to garnish)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 150 c degrees
Grease a 9 x 11 baking dish pan with room temperature butter
Place 1/4 of phyllo sheets into pan then grease pastry sheets with butter
Place another layer with 1/4 of phyllo sheets on top, then grease with butter
In medium bowl, combine coarsely chopped pistachios, honey, sugar, pistachio paste and water and mix
Pour mixture over phyllo sheets in dish
Place another 1/4 of phyllo sheets over the top of the mixture, then grease it with butter
Place the last 1/4 of phyllo sheets on top and pour remaining butter on top
Use a sharp knife to cut baklava in the shape of a diamond or square
Place baklava in oven and bake for 80 minutes. The top of the phyllo sheets should be light golden colour and the papers should appear crispy
Meanwhile, grind or chop the remaining pistachios into an almost fine dust or finely chopped
Allow baklava to cool then garnish with pistachios.
Tips:
1. The key to making this Lebanese Pistachio Baklava is to use a good quality phyllo
2. To keep the green colour of the pistachios you have to cook it slowly as per above directions
2. Pistachio baklava makes a perfect couple with mastic ice cream
Comments