Coconut and Walnut Baklava
Equipment
- 8" square tin
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 19-20 sheets of filo pastry
For the clarified butter:
- 200 g unsalted butter this will reduce into ~160g of clarified butter of which we will use 150g. Alternatively use 150g melted ghee
For the syrup:
- 200 g white granulated sugar
- 200 ml water
- Pinch of saffron be generous
- 2 tsp dried rose petals or rose water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the baklava filling:
- 125 g walnuts
- 125 g desiccated coconut
- 2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 100 g full fat cream cheese
Instructions
For the clarified butter:
- First bring the unsalted butter to a low simmer until it has completely melted
- It will begin to bubble and slowly separate. As a white foam forms on top, remove this with a spoon or fine sieve. You will need to remove this foam 3-4x
- The butter will then begin to appear more translucent and a white layer will form at the base of the pan. At this stage pass it through a fine sieve, or a muslin cloth and allow to cool
For the syrup:
- Bring the sugar and water to a low simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved
- Then place it on a high heat until it comes to a boil
- Boil the sugar syrup for around 2 minutes and then immediately turn the heat off
- Add the vanilla, saffron, and rose to the hot syrup and gently stir to infuse
- Allow the syrup to cool completely
For the baklava filling:
- Blitz the walnuts until they're coarsely ground, leave some chunks for texture
- Transfer to a mixing bowl along with the desiccated coconut, cardamom, cinnamon and salt. Mix to combine
- Add the cream cheese and mix until it has been fully incorporated
Assembling the baklava:
- Preheat your oven to 180'C fan of 200'C conventional
- Cut your filo pastry to the size of your tin, make sure to leave the sheets under a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out
- Grease the base of your tin with clarified butter and place the first sheet of pastry
- Brush the pastry with clarified butter and place another sheet. Repeat this until you have a total of 5 sheets, there is no need to brush the last sheet
- Then place 1/3rd of the baklava filling and gently press into an even layer
- Drizzle a small amount of clarified butter over the filling and then proceed to place another layer of pastry
- Repeat until you have placed 4 sheets of filo. Again there is no need to brush the last layer as the filling will go on top
- Now place another 1/3rd of the filling and press into an even layer once again
- Repeat this process once more until you have used up all of your filling. You will end up with 3 layers of filling, separated by 4 layers of pastry each
- For the last layer use up all your remaining sheets of filo, at least 6-7 for best results
- Gently press down to remove any air pockets, and then cut the unbaked baklava into 16 equal pieces
- Pour over the remaining clarified butter and allow it to sit for 1-2 minutes to soak in
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown on top
- Immediately pour the syrup over the baklava as soon as it comes out of the oven and allow it to sit for a minimum of 6 hours to infuse. Preferably over night for best results
Notes
See blogpost for tips on veganising, types of tins and step by step photos.
Information for storing and keep is in the Q+A in the blogpost