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Ginger and Cardamom Baklava

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Baklava is one of my all-time favourite desserts! You really can’t go wrong with crispy, buttery filo, roasty toasty nuts and a sweet, infused syrup. Using brown butter adds huge depth of flavour and the ginger and cardamom add a lovely spiced twist. It’s the perfect dessert to make for a crowd – they’ll be very impressed!

  • Author: zenak
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 8 hours
  • Yield: 32 pieces 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 600g granulated sugar
  • 400ml water
  • 200g fresh ginger, thinly sliced
  • 1 lemon, sliced  
  • 1 tbsp orange blossom water 
  • 300g shelled unsalted pistachios
  • 300g unsalted walnuts
  • 3 tbsp ground cardamom 
  • 350g salted butter
  • 14 sheets of filo pastry

Instructions

  1. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve over medium heat, then add the ginger and lemon slices. Cook until the sugar syrup reaches 106°C. If you don’t have a food thermometer, cook until the syrup reduces to the consistency of running honey. This should take around 15 mins.
  2. Stir in the orange blossom water, then let the syrup cool completely, then transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until cold, for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
  3. Heat your oven to 170°C / 150°C fan. Blitz the pistachios and walnuts in a food processor until finely chopped, then add the ground cardamom and blitz again to combine. 
  4. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. It will bubble for a few minutes. As the bubbles die down, the milk solids will sink to the bottom and turn brown as they caramelise. Once the butter smells nice and nutty and has changed from pale yellow to brown, take the pan off the heat, add a generous pinch of salt and whisk to dissolve.
  5. Pass the brown butter through a sieve, season with salt (I promise it works! It helps balance the sweetness) and mix to dissolve. Set aside to cool slightly.
  6. Trim the filo to fit a 35cm x 25cm baking tin. Brush the interior with some of the brown butter.
  7. Place 1 sheet of filo on the base of the tin. Brush with butter. Repeat with 4 more filo sheets, for a total of 5 buttered sheets. 
  8. Spread half of the nut mixture over the filo. Top with 4 buttered filo sheets. 
  9. Spread the remaining nuts over the filo. Top with 5 buttered filo sheets.
  10. Use a sharp knife to cut deep lines into the pastry to create triangles, diamonds or squares.
  11. Bake the baklava on the middle rack of your oven, rotating the tin baking tin halfway through, for 1 hour, or until deeply golden.
  12. Pour the cold syrup over the hot baklava and leave to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, you can tuck in and enjoy. 
  13. The baklava is best served after resting for 5 to 6 hours to allow the syrup to fully absorb. It can be prepared up to 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature, or up to 5 days ahead if refrigerated. For the best results, I recommend making it the day before serving.

Equipment

Find it online: https://zenaskitchen.com/ginger-and-cardamom-baklava/

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