Easy homemade Baklava recipe

I know I have not been doing justice to my blog  but I got really busy and was not making many new dishes lately. Well,  here i am again and the credit goes to our potluck lunch that we(a group of friends) have once in a while.  So I had to make dessert this time and I made Baklava  which apparently turned out great. Since everyone liked it and it was damn easy to make, thought my blog deserves a post on this too!

Inspired by Sandra lee’s Baklava Roll-ups, I made these rolls with some variations of my own. Hope you will like it too.

Ingredients

• Phyllo sheets –  14 (thawed as per the directions on the packet)
• Melted unsalted Butter – 1 cup (or you can use butter spray)
• Pistachio – to garnish.

• Walnuts-  finely chopped – 1/2 cup
• Almonds- 1/2 cup finely chopped
• Sesame seeds- 1/3 cup (roasted and chopped) –  optional
• Sugar- 1 tablespoon
• Cardamom powder- 1/2 teaspoon

• Water- 1 cup
• Sugar – 1 Cup
• Honey- 1 tablespoon
• Vanilla extract- 1 teaspoon

• Boil water and sugar in a pan for about 10 minutes
• Add honey and boil for 5 more minutes
• Add vanilla extract and let it cool.

• Mix all the ingredients for the filling and keep aside
• Take two phyllo sheets at a time and lay on a flat surface one on top of the other, make sure to cover the rest of the sheets with damp cloth to prevent drying as they dry out very fast.
• Brush or spray the butter on the entire surface of the top sheet
• Spread the filling all over the surface and start rolling from one side.
• Make sure to keep brushing the butter as much as you can while rolling
• Grease the baking pan lightly with butter and put the rolls in the pan
• 14 sheets will make around 7 such roll
• Bake these for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Don’t forget to preheat the oven!
• Keep checking after abt 30 minutes to make sure they are brown and don’t burn
• Take them out and cut into pieces (you may also consider cutting before baking, i did after baking but I will try cutting it before baking next time)
• Spread the syrup all over the hot baklava specially into the cuts so that it is absorbed nicely.
• Garnish with chopped pistachio.

• Serve at room temperature and keep  uncovered, they get soggy if kept covered.
• Make sure to make sugar syrup before they are baked because you need to put warm or room temperature syrup over hot Baklava.
• You can use any nuts of your choice for the filling.