Lebanese Baklava or Baklawa Recipe – Lebanese Special
I fell in love with the Panera Bread® Shrimp and Soba Salad, decided to recreate it myself, and fell in love with my recipe. This is now one of my favorites!
- Prep Time50 min
- Cook Time50 min
- Total Time1 hr 40 min
Lebanese Baklava or Baklawa Ingredients :
- 1 pound shelled unsalted pistachios
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon rose water
- 1 pound box of phyllo sheets, aka fillo
- 8 ounces ghee, melted, or clarified butter
Sugar Syrup
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons rose water
How To Make Lebanese Baklava or Baklawa Recipe
Put the phyllo in the refrigerator 24 hours ahead of time to defrost.
Put the pistachios and sugar in the bowl of your food processor and pulse.
After about 5 pulses, sprinkle 1 teaspoon rose water over the pistachios then continue pulsing until finely ground. Be careful with your pulsing so you don’t end up with pistachio butter!
Heat oven to 325°. Using a pastry brush, brush ghee over the surface of a rimmed sheet pan, including the sides.
Unroll your defrosted phyllo sheets on a smooth surface and have a piece of waxed paper or slightly damp towel ready to keep the unused pieces covered.
Peel off one piece of phyllo and carefully lay it flat on the bottom of the buttered pan. If it tears, it’s okay, just put it back together like a puzzle
Brush some ghee over to cover the surface. You can hold the phyllo sheet down with your fingertips to prevent it from moving.
Lay another sheet of phyllo over the first and brush with ghee. Continue with the phyllo and ghee until you have 8 sheets stacked up.
Spread half of the nut mixture over the 8 sheets of phyllo.
Lay a sheet of phyllo on top of the nuts and brush with ghee. Continue stacking the phyllo until 5 sheets are stacked.
Spread the remaining nuts over the phyllo.
Lay another sheet of phyllo on top of the nuts, brush with ghee and continue with phyllo and ghee until all the sheets are used. (There should be 5 to 6 sheets in this layer.
Using a sharp knife cut the Baklava into diamonds or triangles.
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until light brown.
While the pastry is baking make the Sugar Syrup.
Rose Sugar Syrup:
Put the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, the sugar should be completely dissolved.
Remove from heat and stir in the rose water.
Set aside to cool.
Completing the Baklava:
As soon as the pastry is removed from the oven, slowly pour the Rose Sugar Syrup over to completely cover. And listen to the satisfying sizzle.
Let cool and serve with ice cream. In Lebanon they serve Baklava with Turkish coffee, yum!
