Recipes

Baklava with Rooibos Syrup

Roberto de Carvalho

Syrup

  • 400 g (500 ml) sugar
  • 250 ml strong Rooibos
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 orange, halved
  • 1½ cinnamon sticks
  • 170 ml honey

Baklava

  • 500 g (830 ml) whole almonds with skins, finely chopped (see NOTE)
  • 250 g (625 ml) walnuts, finely chopped
  • 250 g (300 ml) sugar
  • 15 ml ground cinnamon
  • 10 ml freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 ml ground cloves
  • 1 ml salt
  • 345 g (375 ml) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1 to 2 packets phyllo pastry (roughly 43 x 30 cm; about 28 sheets), thawed if frozen

 

Syrup

  1. Combine the sugar and Rooibos in a saucepan. Squeeze the juice of the lemon and orange into the mixture. Add the fruit halves and cinnamon sticks.
  2. Bring the mixture to the boil over a moderate heat, uncovered. Stir occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  3. Stir in the honey and return to the boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a large measuring cup or bowl, pressing hard to release all the syrup. Discard the solids.
  4. Place the syrup in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about 1 hour until cold.

Baklava

  1. Place the oven rack in the centre of the oven and preheat the oven to 180 °C. Generously brush a baking dish (about 33 x 22,5 x 5 cm) with melted butter.
  2. Mix together the almonds, walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt until combined well.
  3. Halve the phyllo sheets crossways and stack the sheets. Cover the stack with plastic wrap and a dampened, clean kitchen towel (to avoid it from drying out).
  4. Place 2 sheets of phyllo pastry in the bottom of the baking dish and brush the top sheet generously with butter. Continue to layer 2 sheets at a time. Stagger the sheets in each double layer slightly to cover the bottom of the dish. Brush every second sheet generously with butter, until you have used 10 sheets of the pastry.
  5. After brushing the top layer of phyllo with butter, spread 375 ml of the nut mixture over it. Drizzle with 30 ml butter.
  6. Repeat the layering process 3 more times. Top with 10 more sheets of phyllo. (You will use 50 half-sheets of phyllo in total.) Brush the top layer with butter. Leave the pastry to stand for 10 to
  7. minutes at room temperature to harden slightly (to facilitate cutting).
  8. Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava into 16 equal rectangles. Cut each piece in half diagonally. Be sure to cut all the way through.
  9. Bake the baklava for 50 to 60 minutes until golden. Transfer the dish to a wire rack to cool.
  10. Slowly pour the cold syrup around the edges of the hot baklava, into all the cuts, and over the top.
  11. Leave to stand at room temperature for at least 8 hours. Cover once baklava is at room temperature. Do not chill.


Notes:
  • The syrup can be made up to 5 days in advance and chilled in a sealed container.
  • The baklava will keep in an airtight container up to 1 week.
  • Do not chop the nuts in a food processor – this makes them release more oil, resulting in a heavier baklava.

Makes 32 pieces