Baklava!

Quick and super delicious baklava, no filo dough, and no oven are needed!

A friend of mine prepares baklava without filo dough which is very good. Asked for the recipe and believe it or not – she refused! The motivation was: if everyone made my recipe then my baklava will not be special! Okay, I thought – it can’t be that difficult to find out how to make these on my own. So ..today I tried a theory of mine and the result is just incredibly good! You do not need filo dough or oven.
This is a basic recipe which means you can do more things with it if you wish – for example, having chopped nuts in the dough, etc., let your imagination flow!

Method:

1. Grate the almond paste coarsely and put it in a large bowl. Add the ground cardamom and 0,5 tsp of rose water. Knead until everything is very well mixed.
2. Put the dough on the working bench and knead some more until the dough becomes very smooth. Put a plastic wrap on top of the dough and roll until it is 6 mm thick. Place it on a tray.
3. Mix water and sugar in a pan and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer for 2 minutes or until you achieve a syrup consistency (2 – 3 minutes). Skim if necessary. Add the rosewater just before you take it off from the heat.
4. Brush on a thin layer of syrup on the dough – place it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
5. Take out the dough after 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and turn it – put it on the tray again and brush with more syrup, this time a little bit thicker layer.
6. Decorate with slivered pistachio nuts, push it down just a little bit!
7. Brush some more syrup on top of the pistachio nuts. Place the tray in the refrigerator for an additional 30 minutes.
8. Take the baklava out and cut it 1×1 inch. (25,3 x25,3 mm). Put the baklava pieces on the tray again and let it dry for another 30 minutes in the refrigerator again.

They are now ready to eat, but let it dry uncovered overnight in the fridge for best results.

Serve with coffee or tea!

Enjoy!