I’ve never made baklava before and have heard it can be complicated so I was a little nervous about trying this recipe. While phyllo dough can be difficult to work with, this actually wasn’t as difficult as I thought!

Let me start off by saying that I did not make my own phyllo dough; I’m not that brave! Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t imagine that I’d be able to make the super thin layers you buy.

You’ll start off by taking the thin sheets of phyllo dough and brushing butter onto them. I was about to start making the recipe when I realized I hadn’t pulled the phyllo dough out of the freezer so that set me back a few hours. Thankfully I chose to use this time to make the clarified butter and the filling. Neither was difficult so I won’t waste time rehashing the recipe. I will go ahead and say that if you’re making this I’d actually recommend doubling the butter. I didn’t have enough and wish I had done more, but by the time I needed it there wasn’t time to make more.

Anyway, once the dough is thawed then you’ll put a damp towel over the sheets so they don’t dry out. Then you’ll take one sheet at a time (making sure to put the first sheet down on a buttered jelly roll pan. You brush butter onto the sheet and then add another. You’ll do this until you’ve got 12 layers stacked.

Next you spread the filling onto the phyllo dough. Once you’ve spread all of the filling onto the phyllo dough you’ll start putting layers on again. I didn’t have enough clarified butter to do another 12 sheets (I think I got to 10) so I just did what I could and left it at that. You’ll go ahead and cut the pastry and then pop it into the oven to bake.

While it’s baking you’ll make the syrup. As a note, I did not use rose water. It can be very overpowering so a little goes a long way, but I’m not a huge fan so I just left it out. After the baklava has baked then you’ll pour the hot syrup over the finished baklava and then let it sit.

I did try a bite soon after and it was good, but it was a lot better the next day after all of the flavors had melded together. This was very good and honestly not that difficult. I loved the walnut taste, especially since it’s a little different than your standard baklava. While you do need to let it sit for several hours (overnight is better) before consuming it really doesn’t take a lot of time and definitely worth it to try!

Baking Ease	9
Time Spent	9
Taste	10
Visual	10

Recipe Used: Jerne Kitchen