Cypriot Recipes
Sweet Pastry (Baklava)
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Ingredients
450 gram (g) blanched almonds or walnuts (or a combination of both), finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
500 g yufka / filo pastry (puff pastry) ***
300 g unsalted butter, melted, for brushing yufka / filo pastry
For the Syrup
230 ml water
300 g sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
strip of lemon zest
300 ml honey
Preparation
Sprinkle top sheet generously with the nut mixture and cover with 2 buttered pastry sheets. Again sprinkle with nut mixture. Continue adding buttered pastry sheets, sprinkling every second sheet with nut mixture, until all nut mixture is used. Place remaining sheets on top, buttering each sheet.
While Baklava is baking, prepare the syrup:
Combine water in a saucepan with all ingredients except the honey. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Add honey, and simmer another 5 minutes. Remove lemon peel and let it cool.
Remove the Baklava from the oven and pour cool syrup over the hot pastry.
*** Yufka / Filo is a kind of very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek. You can buy it in every supermarket on the island.