Top 10 Popular desserts from around the world no.9: Arabic Baklava

Baklava is very special occasion dessert that middle east people eat during the holidays, after breaking our fast for Ramadan or during big events with family. Baklava is a sweet dessert pastry made of layers of phyllo dough (filo dough) filled with chopped nuts and soaked in syrup, honey, or milk. Baklava is an ancient food that originated in Arabic countries, but many baklava types are now flourishing worldwide!

The crispy, tasty and sweet baklava we are loving comes in a variety of flavors in cities of the world. Some are made with different nuts like pistachios or walnuts, while others have unique recipes such as Sütlü Nuriye, which is done by mixing milk with syrup and added to the phyllo dough after it's baked. A nice Baklava is made with thin sheets of homemade phyllo dough. While using good quality butter and the right amount of sugar in the syrup is essential. Lemon juice is added into the syrup often to keep baklava from crystallizing.

Though Baklava has many types, they all share a few major ingredients: flaky phyllo dough, syrup, and roasted tree nuts. Groundnuts such as peanuts are not common in baklava making. When baklava is freshly done out of the oven, if it's not at a time to serve to the table, then it should kept in bakery display cabinets such as Nenwell models to keep the baklava crunchy while no melt syrup.