Baklava

Babiche Martens

Nutty, sweet baklava with loads of honey and hints of cardamom and cinnamon. The honey for this baklava came from a friend who has recently set up his own beehives; it is so delicious I can eat it with a spoon. Serve the baklava as a dessert with a little Greek yoghurt; one piece will never be enough.

Syrup

1 cup	Sugar (Main)
½ cup	Runny honey (Main)
1	Cinnamon stick
½ tsp	Ground cardamom
1	Lemon, juice of, plus 4 pieces of peel
1 cup	Water
2 Tbsp	Light corn syrup, optional

Base

3 ½ cups	Chopped nuts, pistachios and walnuts (Main)
½ cup	Sugar
2 tsp	Ground cinnamon
¼ tsp	Ground cardamom
½ cup	Melted butter
375 g	Filo pastry (Main)

Directions

1. Set oven to 170C.
2. To make syrup place sugar, honey, cinnamon, cardamom, lemon, water and corn syrup in a pot. Simmer for 15 minutes until syrupy and reduced slightly. Set aside to cool.
3. Mix together nuts, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom.
4. Brush base of a 20 x 30cm tin with melted butter. Trim sides of filo to fit tin. Spread out 2 sheets of filo then spread with butter. Continue until base is 8 layers thick. Sprinkle a third of nuts and sugar over.
5. Layer with another 2 sheets of filo, butter and another third of the nuts, then repeat. For the top, layer 2 filo sheets and butter until it is 6-8 layers thick. Butter top. Cut four even strips lengthwise down the tin. Cut on a diagonal into diamonds.
6. Bake for 30 minutes. If too brown after 10 minutes, cover with foil and continue to cook. Remove foil for the last 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour half the syrup over. Cool for 30 minutes then add remaining syrup. Baklava will keep for up to two weeks.