Perfect dessert for your next party, a quick and easy fix for your baklava crave. Crunchy, buttery layers of phyllo dough stuffed with spiced nuts and drizzled with simple syrup. A fun party spin on a Mediterranean favorite recipe.
I’ve made Baklava so many times in my life that I’ve lost count of. I’ve also made many baklava inspired recipes like the baked apples and granola.
Still baklava rolls or baklava cigars are the most wanted and enjoyed recipe by my family.
Baklava or Baklawa as we pronounce it in Arabic, is one of the easiest Middle eastern desserts. It comes in a variety of shapes and fillings. Rolls is one of the most common form and usually filled with nuts and drizzled with syrup or honey.
So let’s start rolling
I’ve chosen to fill my baklava with pistachios, it is our favorite. Another favorite of mine is walnuts, I highly recommend roasting the nuts before grounding them specially walnuts, it brings up the flavor and makes a huge difference. So we’ll grind about a cup of our favorite nuts.
Here comes the flavoring, cinnamon goes very well with walnuts. For pistachios I’ve decided to flavor it with orange blossom water, some people like to add rose water.
In my family we prefer orange blossom than rose water, and add 3 Tablespoons of simple syrup/honey or corn syrup whatever is easier for you. Mix those with the ground nuts until you get sort of a coarse, sticky paste.
Brush 2 sheets of phyllo with melted butter and spoon about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the nut mixture in a line.
Roll the sheets tightly and place in a baking pan. Repeat with the remaining sheets until you are done. Bake in a 325F oven until top is lightly golden. Will take 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven and pour simple syrup over. Let it cool completely before serving.
Remove rolls from pan and cut into two or three equal parts depending on your favorite serving size. I’ve cut mine into 3 parts. My phyllo package made me 9 rolls, one is already missing from the photos up, guess where did it go? 🙂
I hope you’ll like this recipe and please if you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #amiraspantry — I love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!
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A nice spin to the traditional authentic baklava, easy, portioned and freezer friendly.
- 1 cup roasted unsalted pistachios meat.
- 1 -2 teaspoons orange blossom water*.
- 3 Tablespoons simple syrup.**
- 1/2 1lb package of phyllo dough, about 18 sheets.
- 1/2 cup melted butter.
- 1 cup sugar.
- 1/2 cup water.
- 1/2 teaspoon lime juice.
- 1/4 cup honey.
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.***
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In a saucepan over medium heat, combine syrup ingredeints until it boils, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
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Set aside to cool completely.
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In your food processor, pulse the pistachios until finely ground. Add simple syrup and the orange blossom water to the pistachios and mix well until you get a sticky coarse paste.
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Preheat oven to 320F
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On a clean working surface, take two phyllo sheets out, brush lightly by melted butter. Spoon about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the filling and form a log on the short side of the sheet and roll all the way through.
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Brush the finished roll with more butter and place in a baking sheet.
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Bake in oven until top is golden brown, about 40 minutes depending on your oven.
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Pour 1/2 to 1 cup of simple syrup over and let it cool completely, preferable overnight if you can.
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Take phyllo cigars out, cut into 2 or 4 equal parts.
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Serve and enjoy!.
* Adding orange blossom water is optional, you can add rose water or any other flavors as described in the post above. You can also leave it plain, it is totally your choice.
** You can also use honey or corn syrup instead.
*** Adding vanilla extract is optional to flavor the syrup, you can also add a stick of cinnamon.
Please note: Calories are calculated based on 27 servings and with 1/2 cup of simply syrup added.
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I was wondering what the dimensions we’re of your phyllo sheets. i feel like mine are much bigger than yours but it might just be the pictures.
Anisa, phyllo comes in many shapes and dimensions sometimes even thickness. Mine was 9”x 14”. I hope this helps.
These look so great and yes easy ti make. I never did before as it looked time consuming. I approve of the pistachio and nice pairing with the orange blossom water!
Baklava is really good stuff! Love it. 🙂 Don’t think I’ve had it in roll form, though — really like the idea. Thanks!
Thanks John, I hope you’ll try it soon and I am really glad to see you back :).
Hi Amira, greetings from Cairo
Cheers Leila 🙂 how is everything there?
سلمي لي على مصر وأهلها
I just saw this masr btselm 3leeky kteer all is good in Cairo.. I really love your blog, its a life saver for me you’re recipes are so simple sana 2oula fel mutb5 made easier
Hi Amira, I adore baklava – can you believe I never tried to make it though? I think it’s probably a good idea because I’d eat it all way too quickly and turn into a little fat ball, haha!
Yours looks very nice – really tasty and well done!
Hmmm , good point :), I usually end up eating more than half and my poor kids wake up next morning searching for it with tears in their eye hahaha The Monster mama ate them all
YUM! I love baklava! I still have some phyllo dough in my freezer. I totally should make this soon. It’s hard to control eating one or few… 🙂
So So Delicious, I love love them!
Thanks Shady for your sweet comment.
A simple yet very delicious treat… I love baklava!!!!
I have never seen someone who does not like it!!! It is divine. Thanks Denise.
My god, this is so delicious, love baklava, your’s looks so yummy…
I made it for my kid’s teachers as they visited us couple of weeks ago and they were thrilled 🙂 Thanks Samah for stopping by.
Where can I find orange blossom water and sheets I am from Riyadh and I can’t find the comment box to send you a comment I am using the reply button everytime
Hmm, I will see with the tech person about this comment box, it should be there if you scroll down all the way to the bottom. Here we buy the orange blossom water from the Middle East store, in SA it should be everywhere may be next to spices and rose water. The phyllo sheets are called goullash in the Middle East “جلاش” and it can be found in the freezer section in your store probably right next to the puff pastry and samosa sheets. I hope this answers your question. If you have any more questions do not hesitate to send me.