Baklava

We were so taken by the baklava at Kak Jo's blog. Before this it was a mystery to us of how it was made. Yesterday, we decided give it a go. Out the fillo pastry, walnuts, cashew nuts and pistachios. Here's how it went:

Ingredients:

• For the pastry:
• Fillo pastry
• Butter - melted
• Nuts (I put walnuts, cashew nuts and pistachios)

• For the syrup:
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar (I think it's too sweet, next time we're going to use only 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons of honey (We used Greek honey)
  
• 1 teaspoon of any fruit juice (I used lime and lemon)
• 1 1/2 cups water

Methods:

1. Greased the baking tray that you want to use.
2. Take approximately 5 fillo leaves, basting between leaves with butter.
3. Spread the crushed walnuts, making sure the fillo pastry is covered.
   
4. Cover with 5 basted sheets fillo pastry as before.
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 with the crushed cashew nuts.
6. Repeat step 3 and 4 with the crushed pistachios.
7. Brush the top sheet with melted butter mix with olive oil (if you like).
8. Cut into required size.
   
9. Place in a preheated oven 365F (160C) for 45 minutes - 1 hour until brown and crisp.
10. While the fillo is cooking, make the syrup.
11. Make syrup by boiling all the syrup ingredients on low heat until it thicken a little.
12. Add the lemon juice with care and leave to cool.
13. Pour over the cooked and cut pastry.

Tips:

1. Cut the pastry before baking - if you cut after baking, they easily break.
2. Use more nuts (of your choice) if you want more nutty flavor.
3. After pouring the syrup, only then sprinkle some crushed pistachios for decoration.
   
4. Leave for at least overnight / 6 hours to let the syrup soaked into all the layers of fillo pastry before enjoying.

Enjoy!