Baklava With Honey Syrup

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 3/4 cup sesame seeds
• 4 cups walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup ground cinnamon
• 8 sheets phyllo pastry
• 100 g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 small lemon
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 6 whole cloves

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 200°c/400°f, and lightly grease a shallow baking tray.
• 2 place the sesame seeds in a small, non-stick pan over a medium heat, and cook, while shaking the pan gently, for 3-5 minutes or until golden and toasted.
• 3 transfer to a bowl, add the walnuts and cinnamon and mix well.
• 4 brush 1 pastry sheet with the melted butter and fold in half crossways to form a rectangle.
• 5 sprinkle 1/4 cup of the walnut mixture evenly over the pastry; and starting from one of the long ends, roll it up into a log. brush with butter. place on a baking tray; and repeat with the remaining pastry, butter and walnut mixture.
• 6 bake the baklava for 10-12 minutes or until golden; and then allow them to cool on the baking tray.
• 7 the honey syrup: peel 1 large strip of rind from the lemon, remove the pith, juice half the lemon; then place the lemon rind, lemon juice, sugar, honey, cinnamon stick, cloves and 2 cups of water in a saucepan over a medium heat.
• 8 cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved; increase the heat to high and bring to the boil; reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for 10 minutes or until the honey syrup thickens slightly.
• 9 pour the hot honey syrup over the cold baklava, and stand for 30 minutes or until the baklava has absorbed the syrup. cut each baklava diagonally into 3 pieces and serve.
• 10 tip: purchase phyllo pastry from the fridge not the freezer, as the layers will separate much more easily.