Easy Baklava

Nothing says "fancy" like baklava, a pastry normally made from layers of flaky filo pastry, walnuts, butter, and honey. Instead of the honey and butter, this easy recipe uses macadamia oil and a richly sweet syrup made from coconuts. The contrast between the flaky pastry, crunchy walnuts, and sticky-sweet syrup is simply amazing — and you can make the whole thing with only six ingredients!

EASY BAKLAVA [VEGAN]

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups walnuts
• 1 cup macadamia oil
• 13 ounces filo pastry
• 2 cups coconut sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 lemon, cut into thin slices

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 360°F.
2. Oil a 9×12-inch baking dish.
3. Start off with blending half the walnuts in your food processor using an “S”-blade and blend until it almost turns into a walnut meal. Add in the other half of the walnuts and pulse until you have some smaller chunks of walnuts left.
4. Place two sheets of the filo on the bottom of the baking dish, leaving the sides hanging out of the dish a little.
5. Using an oil brush, oil the filo pastry and sprinkle evenly with 1 1/2 tablespoons of walnuts. Make sure to also get some in the corners.
6. Fold one sheet of the filo in half and place on top. Coat this layer with macadamia oil.
7. Continue this process of layering until you have run out of walnuts. You may have one sheet of filo leftover at the end.
8. To finish it off, top with two filo sheets and tuck and overlap the filo on the sides. Coat with macadamia oil and place in the oven.
9. Bake for 50 minutes until the top of the filo becomes golden brown.
10. While the baklava is baking, place the coconut sugar and water in a saucepan and stir over a low-medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
11. Bring to a gentle simmer for 7-10 minutes. You can cook it for longer if you want a thicker sauce. Make sure you don’t reduce it too much as you will need it to seep into the pastry.
12. Once the pastry is done, cut it into diamond shapes while it’s still hot. Pour 3/4 of the syrup over the baklava, aiming to get it in between the cut sections.
13. Place the slices of lemon on top and pour the rest over.
14. Set aside to cool completely before serving.

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