Apricot And Pistachio Baklava With Orange Cardamom Syrup Recipes

PISTACHIO BAKLAVA WITH CARDAMOM AND ROSE WATER

Steps:

• . For the sugar syrup: Combine syrup ingredients, except rosewater, in small saucepan and bring to full boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Transfer to 2-cup measuring cup and set aside to cool while making and baking baklava; when syrup is cool, discard peppercorns and stir in rosewater. (Cooled syrup can be refrigerated in airtight container up to 4 days.).
• Nut filling: Pulse pistachios in food processor until very finely chopped, about fifteen 1-second pulses; transfer to bowl. Measure out 1 tablespoon nuts and set aside for garnish. Add ground cardamom, sugar, and salt; toss well to combine.
• To assemble and bake: Brush 13- by 9-inch traditional (not nonstick) baking pan with butter. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Unwrap and unfold phyllo on large cutting board; carefully smooth with hands to flatten. Using baking pan as guide, cut sheets crosswise with chef's knife, yielding two roughly evenly sized stacks of phyllo (one may be narrower than other). Cover with plastic wrap, then damp kitchen towel to prevent drying.
• Place one phyllo sheet (from wider stack) in bottom of baking pan and brush until completely coated with butter. Repeat with 7 more phyllo sheets (from wider stack), brushing each with butter.
• Evenly distribute about 1 cup nuts over phyllo. Cover nuts with phyllo sheet (from narrower stack) and dab with butter (phyllo will slip if butter is brushed on). Repeat with 5 more phyllo sheets (from narrower stack), staggering sheets slightly if necessary to cover nuts, and brushing each with butter. Repeat layering with additional 1 cup nuts, 6 sheets phyllo, and remaining 1 cup nuts. Finish with 8 to 10 sheets phyllo (from wider stack), using nicest and most intact sheets for uppermost layers and brushing each except final sheet with butter. Following illustration 6, use palms of hands to compress layers, working from center outward to press out any air pockets. Spoon 4 tablespoons butter on top layer and brush to cover all surfaces. Following illustration 7, use bread knife or other serrated knife with pointed tip in gentle sawing motion to cut baklava into diamonds, rotating pan as necessary to complete cuts. (Cut on bias into eighths on both diagonals.).
• Bake until golden and crisped, about 1 ½ hours, rotating baking pan halfway through baking. Immediately after removing baklava from oven, pour cooled syrup over cut lines until about 2 tablespoons remain (syrup will sizzle when it hits hot pan); drizzle remaining syrup over surface. Garnish center of each piece with pinch of reserved ground nuts. Cool to room temperature on wire rack, about 3 hours, then cover with foil and let stand at least 8 hours before serving. (Once cooled, baklava can be served, but flavor and texture improve if left to stand at least 8 hours. Baklava can be wrapped tightly in foil and kept at room temperature up to 10 days.).

APRICOT PISTACHIO TART

Steps:

• Process 1 cup nuts and the granulated sugar in a food processor to combine. Add butter; process until a paste forms. Add egg, vanilla, and salt; process to combine. Set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, press edges of both pastry sheets together to form one large sheet. Roll out to a 9-by-17-inch rectangle; transfer to a baking sheet. Spread reserved pistachio mixture over dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border.
• Position rectangle so that a short end is nearest you. Arrange apricots on top in 4 vertical rows, alternating direction in which apricots face from row to row. Fold in edges of dough; use your index finger to make a scalloped border. Refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together yolk and cream; brush egg wash over edges of tart shell. Chop remaining tablespoon nuts; sprinkle nuts and turbinado sugar over apricots. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until crust is deep golden brown and fruit is juicy, about 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
• Meanwhile, heat jam with 1 1/2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring, until thinned, about 2 minutes. Pass through a fine sieve into a small bowl. Brush glaze over fruit.

PISTACHIO BAKLAVA

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse the pistachios until coarsely ground (or you can chop them by hand until very finely chopped). Don't overprocess the nuts. You want to maintain some texture.
• Clarify the butter by melting it over low heat, then letting it cook until the foam rises to the top and the milk solids fall to the bottom of the pan. This will take about 5 to 15 minutes depending upon how high your heat is, but don't rush it or the butter could burn.
• Skim foam off the top of the melted butter. Line a fine-mesh sieve with a piece of cheesecloth, place it over a bowl and pour the melted butter through.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees and brush the inside of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with a little of the clarified butter.
• Prepare the phyllo dough by trimming the stack of it with scissors to fit the bottom of your baking dish. Packages of phyllo come in different sizes; some won't need any trimming, some may need an inch or two cut off a side, and some may need to be cut in half crosswise. Cover phyllo layers with a lightly damp kitchen towel, and keep covered.
• Place 1 piece of phyllo on the bottom of the baking pan; brush lightly with clarified butter. Layer phyllo sheets on top, brushing each sheet with butter as you go, until half the phyllo is used.
• Spread pistachios on phyllo in an even layer, then layer with remaining phyllo, brushing each sheet with butter as you go (rewarm butter if necessary).
• Cut the pastry into 36 pieces, using clean up-and-down strokes and rotating the pan if necessary. Make sure to cut all the way through to bottom of pan. Pour any remaining butter evenly over pan.
• Bake baklava until the top is golden brown, and the lower phyllo layers beneath the pistachios are thoroughly baked through. To test this, use a knife to lift up a corner of one of the pastry rectangles from the center of the pan so you can peek at the bottom layers. Start checking after 40 minutes, but it could take an hour or even 1 hour 10 minutes. If the top starts to get too brown before the pastry is cooked through, lay a piece of foil over the top.
• Meanwhile, prepare sugar syrup: In a medium pot, combine sugar with 1 2/3 cups/400 milliliters water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Stir in lemon juice.
• When the baklava is baked through, reheat the syrup until it comes to a simmer. Remove pan from oven and place in the sink or on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drips of syrup. Slowly pour hot sugar syrup over the pastry; it will bubble up and some may overflow. When the syrup stops bubbling, move pan to wire rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

PISTACHIO BAKLAVA WITH ORANGE-CARDAMOM SYRUP

Steps:

• Simmer 1 3/4 cups sugar and orange juice in saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil over medium heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Add cardamom and cool syrup.
• Place nuts and 2 Tbsp sugar in processor. Pulse until most of the nuts are finely ground (the largest pieces should be the size of small peas.) Mix nuts, 6 Tbsp sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with some of the melted butter. Place a sheet of phyllo in the dish and brush with melted butter. Repeat with 9 more sheets of phyllo and melted butter.
• Sprinkle half of the nut mixture evenly over the phyllo. Top with a sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Repeat with 9 more sheets of phyllo and melted butter.
• Sprinkle with rest of the nut mixture over the phyllo, then top with 10 more sheets of phyllo and melted butter.
• Using a sharp knife, cut diagonally through the top phyllo layer from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. Cut top layer of phyllo into 1-inch-wide rows parallel to both sides of the first cut. Turn pan and cut rows about 2 1/4 inches wide, forming diamond pattern.
• Bake baklava until golden brown and crisp, 50-55 minutes. Drizzle syrup evenly over hot baklava. Cool in pan on rack. Recut baklava along lines all the way through layers. Baklava can be made two days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

PISTACHIO BAKLAVA WITH HONEY AND ROSE WATER

Steps:

• In a saucepan, heat the water, sugar, honey and lemon juice until it comes to the boil and cook for a minute. Now add the orange blossom and rose waters, boil for a few seconds, and remove from the heat. Allow to cool before using on the baklava.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• Grind the nuts. We want them to be medium-fine - if they are ground too finely, the resulting filling will be very dense. Combine with the sugar and cinnamon, then add the orange blossom and rose waters and mix well. Set aside.
• In a dish (I used one 21 x 28cm), brush the base with a little melted butter, then add a sheet of filo. Brush with butter, then add another sheet. Brush with butter, and continue until you have six sheets of filo in the dish. Add the filling, and spread out. Be gentle so you don't break the pastry. Now add the rest of the pastry, in each case adding a layer, brushing with melted butter, then adding the next. Finish by brushing the sixth sheet with butter.
• Cut the baklava into pieces - long rectangles, diamonds, squares, or whatever whimsical shapes take your fancy. Do this carefully with a sharp knife and make sure to go all the way through to the base. You might want to leave a border of "scrap" baklava where the pastry is a bit untidy at the edges. This means the final result is neater, and as the cook, you get to enjoy this "angel's share".
• Bake the baklava for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden. When done, remove from the oven, allow it to sit for a minute, then pour the cooled syrup over the hot baklava. Be sure to get the syrup in between each cut. If you see syrup forming pools in some areas, don't worry - it will all be absorbed.
• Allow the baklava to cool fully before serving. Decorate with chopped pistachios and dried pomegranate seeds(**).
• (*) By this, I mean the lightly aromatic rose water. If you have the much more intense rose extract, then use just a few drops and not a whole tablespoon!
• (**) To dry pomegranate seeds - remove the red seeds from the white pith, and spread on a non-stick baking tray. Leave in the oven at 60°C (140°F) for several hours until the seeds are dry. They will remain slightly sticky but should keep their colour and not turn brown.