Preserved Lemon Infused Baklava

Step  0: Preheat the oven to 180C.
Step  1: Melt the butter in a pan.
Step  2: Using a pastry brush cover the bottom of the tin with melted butter and lay in the first sheet of filo. Brush butter onto your next sheet of filo pastry and place butter-side down into the tin, repeat until you have 5 layers.
Step  3: Sprinkle half of the nuts over the pastry distributing evenly, add 2 more layers of buttered pastry then the rest of the nuts and finally the remaining buttered pastry sheets.
Step  4: With a sharp knife cut into 16 squares, bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Step  5: Meanwhile, place the sugar, honey and preserved lemon in a small saucepan and mix with 150ml of just boiled water from the kettle, set over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved , remove from the heat and set this syrup aside to infuse while the baklava is in the oven.
Step  6: Once out of the oven ladle the syrup over the pastry and leave to cool.

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes

Medium

Serves 16 Pieces

Turkish style nut-filled pastries with a tang of preserved lemon – the perfect dessert to round off a Mediterranean-themed dinner party.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter
270g uncooked filo pastry sheets, cut to the size of the tin (keep covered with a damp cloth)
225g nuts chopped finely in a food processor (walnuts, pistachios and almonds work well or a mix)
150g caster sugar
200g runny honey
2-3 tbsp Preserved Lemons, de-seeded and finely chopped

Method

Step 0: Preheat the oven to 180C.
Step 1: Melt the butter in a pan.
Step 2: Using a pastry brush cover the bottom of the tin with melted butter and lay in the first sheet of filo. Brush butter onto your next sheet of filo pastry and place butter-side down into the tin, repeat until you have 5 layers.
Step 3: Sprinkle half of the nuts over the pastry distributing evenly, add 2 more layers of buttered pastry then the rest of the nuts and finally the remaining buttered pastry sheets.
Step 4: With a sharp knife cut into 16 squares, bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Step 5: Meanwhile, place the sugar, honey and preserved lemon in a small saucepan and mix with 150ml of just boiled water from the kettle, set over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved , remove from the heat and set this syrup aside to infuse while the baklava is in the oven.
Step 6: Once out of the oven ladle the syrup over the pastry and leave to cool.

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