30+ Best Middle Eastern Desserts: Baklava & More
This collection of the best middle eastern desserts will make your taste buds thank you! Middle Eastern cuisine has so much delicious food to offer and they also have some awesome desserts! This super delicious pistachio baklava is buttery, sweet, flakey, nutty, gooey.
Ingredients
- 500 g Phyllo dough thawed
- 3 cups Pistachios ground
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 230 g Butter melted
Honey syrup
- 1 cup Honey
- 1 ⅓ cups Water
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon Lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 160c (320f) and prepare a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with softened butter.
- Thaw phyllo dough according to the package instructions. My favorite way is thawing it in the fridge overnight.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the ground pistachios and the cinnamon. Mix until well combined. You can ground the pistachios in a food processor or in a blender until fine mixture forms.
- Trim the phyllo dough to fit in your baking pan. Add 7 sheets of phyllo dough into the pan, and brush every sheet of dough with melted butter.
- Sprinkle ⅕ of the pistachio mixture on top of the buttered phyllo and spread it evenly. Top the pistachio mixture with another 5 sheets of phyllo sheets, buttering every sheet with melted butter.
- Repeat four times until you run out of pistachios. Top the last batch of pistachios with more 5 sheets of phyllo and brush with butter.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the baklava into 4 rows lengthwise, and then cut diagonally so that each piece of baklava is in the shape of a diamond.
- Bake in a 160c (320f) preheated oven for 1 hour or until the baklava is golden brown.
- In a medium saucepan, add the sugar, honey, water, vanilla extract, and lemon juice and cook over medium-high heat mixing constantly until the sugar melts.
- Then reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for another 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
- Remove the baklava from the oven and immediately drizzle the honey syrup all over the baklava.
- This will ensure your baklava stays crispy and does not get soggy. Let it cool at room temperature for at least 4 hours and let the baklava soak the syrup.
Notes
- Use the best quality pistachio that you can find! Do not use salted pistachios. They will affect the flavor and make your dessert too salty. You can use natural toasted or untoasted pistachios.
- Use thin phyllo dough for this recipe! Don't use thick phyllo sheets for this.
- Trim your dough to the size of the pan. Every company has different sizes of phyllo dough, so it's important that you do this to make your pastry even.
- Let the phyllo dough defrost in the fridge overnight. This will make sure that your phyllo dough is fully defrosted.
- When you are buttering the phyllo dough sheets, make sure that you are super careful and gently butter it to prevent it from ripping.
- Divide your pistachio mixture before you start to assemble the baklava to ensure that you will get even layers.
- It is very important that you use a sharp knife to cut the baklava to get even and clean cuts.
- Cover the phyllo dough with a damp towel as you work your way through them to prevent them from drying out. This will prevent your sheets to crack as you lift them to transfer to the pan.
Nutrition
Calories: 282kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 5gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 157mgPotassium: 178mgFiber: 2gSugar: 20gVitamin A: 292IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 22mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!