Ingredients

• 18 sheets ready-made filo pastry (unwrap and keep under a damp tea-towel until you are ready to use)
• 150g/5oz unsalted butter
• plus extra for greasing
• 200g/7oz mixed pistachios and walnuts
• roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 300g/10½fl oz granulated sugar
• 250ml/9fl oz water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp orange blossom water

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
• Grease a 17cm x 28cm (11in x 7in) baking tray with butter.
• Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over low heat or in a microwave.
• Lay 10 sheets of filo pastry
• one at a time
• into the tray
• brushing each sheet with butter before adding the next.
• In a clean bowl
• mix together the nuts
• sugar and cardamom and spread the mixture over the pastry in the tray.
• Layer up the remaining sheets on top of the nut mixture
• brushing each sheet with butter
• as before.
• Using a sharp knife
• cut a criss-cross pattern into the top layers of the pastry.
• Place baklava in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes
• then decrease the oven temperature to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and cook for an additional half hour to 40 minutes
• or until the pastry is slightly puffed and golden on top. Do not allow the top to burn. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
• For the syrup
• heat the sugar
• water
• lemon juice and orange blossom water in a small
• heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the sugar has melted and a syrup is formed. (This will take about 20 minutes or so.)
• Pour the syrup into the slits in the baklava and leave to cool. Cut into small diamond-shaped pieces and serve.