The theme of the week has clearly been all things Mother’s Day and each recipe (with the exception of Wednesday’s salmon) has been one my mom would personally love. I decided to end the week with a recipe that’s a little different and off the beaten path, but one that my mom has always loved, baklava. As mentioned, baklava is a flaky Greek pastry consisting of phyllo dough, chopped nuts, and a sweet syrup that the nuts are soaked in. Usually, I might make baklava around the holidays, but I really wanted to create a lighter version for spring and summer days, because baklava is just too delicious of a pastry to not eat year-round. Plus, when I was wracking my brain for new spring dessert ideas, I really just could not get baklava out of my head. Like I needed to make it. So I did. And I am pretty excited about it.
Let’s get into the details. Phyllo dough is one of those ingredients that tends to scare people away, but shouldn’t. The issue with phyllo dough is that it can tear easily if not handled carefully, but what people forget is that it’s OK if it tears. In the end, you are creating multiple layers of dough, so tears don’t make a big difference. When working with phyllo dough it’s important to remember that it doesn’t need to be perfect. Perfection is always so overrated, so let’s just set out right from the start not strive for it. K? Cool. So that’s my one piece of advice, don’t stress if your dough tears. Layer this up just as the recipe states, with plenty of butter and chocolate, and I promise, once the baklava is baked all will be good. Especially once it has soaked in the sweet honey vanilla syrup (yum!). Promise.
To keep the dessert lighter and make it less time consuming, I greatly reduced the amount of layers of dough from like a billion (a bit of an exaggeration, but hey, a lot of layers) to about twenty-four. Let’s just be real, no one wants to stand at the kitchen counter and layer sheets of phyllo dough for an hour. No that is not fun. Instead I did three layers of about eight sheets of phyllo dough, and I found that it was still delicious…soft, flaky, and buttery, just so good. Not only does this recipe require less effort, making it so much easier, it also makes for a slightly less indulgent version of the classic. Win, win.
For the baklava filling, I used just a few simple ingredients, roasted pistachios, almonds, and plenty of chocolate chips. Loving this combo of salted pistachios and chocolate. The key to a really good baklava though is all in the sweet syrup that the baklava sits in after baking. I like making mine out of honey and vanilla. It’s not too sweet, but extra sticky, and I love the light honey flavors. Especially with the phyllo dough and chocolate.
When everything comes together you have a baklava that’s really pretty and looks as though it took hours of work. Did I mention the buttery flakey layers of phyllo dough? And the salted pistachios? And the chocolate chips? Again, just so good! If you happen to be hosting Mother’s Day this Sunday, or just need something sweet to bake up over the weekend, this has to be it, it’s truly one of my favorites.
If you make this Easy Baklava and love it, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I always love hearing from you guys and do my best to respond to each and every one of you. Oh, and of course, if you do make this baklava, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram so I can see! I love looking at the photos of recipes you all have made. It makes my day!
The best way to end the week. YUM.
