Baklava

It's hard to create something when you haven't tasted it before.


I.. haven't tried baklava before. I know what it is. I know what it looks like, and what it's made of .. but I just haven't eaten it before. Well, I decided to make it anyway. Because it has cinnamon in it and I love the smell of cinnamon. The only downfall about baklava though, is the butter. I tried to use the least butter possible here though! :P

Baklava
Makes about 30 servings

375g filo pastry
90g butter, melted
250g walnuts, crumbed
2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon powder

200ml water
125g sugar
2 tbsp honey

In a bowl, mix cinnamon with crumbed walnuts. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 170C.

Lay a baking pan with baking paper.
Brush a half a sheet of filo pastry with butter. Fold unbrushed half over brushed half.
Brush top of halved filo with butter. Align another half sheet of filo pastry over the top and repeat. Do this for 4 sheets (you will have 8 folded layers).
Spoon cinnamon walnut mixture onto the buttered filo pastry.
Apply another 4 sheets (8 folded layers as per previous instructions) on top to create another layer and sprinkle more mixture on top. Keep doing this until you have 4 layers of walnut mixture.


Brush the very top of the pastry with butter, then cut into diamonds.


Bake for 15-20min or until golden brown.

While the baklava is baking, make the syrup. Boil water, sugar and honey on medium heat for a few minutes before turning down to low and allowing all sugar to dissolve. Keep it on low heat until your baklava is ready.

Remove baklava from pan and carefully pour the syrup over the top.
Put the baklava back into the oven for another 5mins or so.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.


Serve with a hot cup of tea.

Sugar, oh, honey honey..

Valentines Day and the Lunar New Year fall on the same day this year. I made honey cookies and decorated them with the spare fondant I had from last time.

They're the best of both days. The red and gold for the Lunar New Year and the heart for Valentines.


Hehe. <3

Honey cookies

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
50gm butter
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup golden syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten

Melt butter. Add in sugar. Allow to cool slightly.
Melt honey and golden syrup. Allow to cool slightly.
Sift flour and baking powder.
Add in butter and honey. Mix.
Add in egg. Combine until a dough is formed.
Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours (so it can harder) before using cookie cutters.

Roll out dough to about 0.5cm thickness. Cut using cookie cutters.


Place onto a lined baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes in a preheated 170C oven. (May take longer or shorter depending on how large/small the cookies are).
Cool on a wire rack before decorating.

Snowballs?

Not sure what I made. But I mixed and mixed and then baked. :)


I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.. but when I tried one the next day, I finally knew what they were! Hehe.

They were.. apricot oat slices! (in disguise) :D


Apricot oat snowballs/Apricot oat slice
Makes about 24 (~2.5-3cm diameter in size)

1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup dried apricots diced, soaked in water for an hr then drained.
extra desiccated coconut for coating

Sift and mix plain flour with baking powder, sugar, coconut and oats.

Combine with egg, honey and apricots. Mix.

Roll into little balls and coat with coconut. (Or place all of the mixture in a lined slice pan and then sprinkle the top with coconut)

Place on a lined baking tray and bake at 170C in a preheated oven for 15mins.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. (While still warm, slice to pieces if baking slices instead of balls)

Store in an air tight container and consume within a few days.


These were actually quite nice! :) Mum liked them too. They're soft, but not dry and crumbly even when you can feel the texture of the coconut and oats still. The apricots gave a good moisture to it, and the sweetness is just right. (If you don't like the tang of the apricots, this is where the white chocolate/yoghurt chocolate comes into play. See below). I think they taste just like the apricot oat slices that they sell in supermarkets/vending machines. If you want them to look more like those slices though, all you do is bake a slab and slice them up into rectangles. Then you can drizzle some yoghurt chocolate/white chocolate over the top! :) Simple right? And the best thing is, it's fresh and healthier!

Sultana, honey and oat scones

Remember how I picked sultanas/raisins out from the cornflake cookie mixture because I had put too many in? Well.. They were sitting in a bag in the fridge and I finally decided to get rid of them. It's such a waste to just throw them out. So why not use them in something like.. say.. scones?! :) Haha.


I haven't had scones in years. And these were simply delicious. I ate them for lunch and now I'm scone-fully satisfied :D

Sultana, honey and oat scones
Makes about 13.5 (~4cm diameter) scones

2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups cooking oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup sultanas/raisins
2 tbsp margarine
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
1 cup honey

Preheat oven to 175C.

In one mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add in oats and sultanas and mix well.
Rub in margarine into the dry mixture.

In another bowl, mix milk, honey and egg together.

Mix liquid into flour mixture and form a dough.
Knead the dough for about 10mins or until smooth. (If too sticky, add more flour or oats. Too dry, add 1tsp milk at a time)

Roll out dough to about 2.5cm thickness.
Make cutouts using a cookie cutter, and place onto a baking paper lined tray.


Brush the tops with some milk.


Bake for 20mins or until golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack.


Serve immediately with some apricot jam. (Or any other jam). Any leftovers should be reheated in the oven before serving once again.


They are okay to eat as is without the jam, but I couldn't actually taste the honey. If you wanted to omit the jam, I'd suggest adding 2-3 tbsp more of honey so you can get the honey flavour. Otherwise, these scones are really nice hot from the oven and with the apricot jam. YUM! :D