How to cook Armenian baklava at home. How to make baklava at home

Armenian baklava is a popular type of sweets that is most characteristic of eastern peoples. In our country, this type of confectionery is also loved, but only a few people can prepare it. In order for the taste to be as close as possible to the original, you need to know some secrets.

Armenian traditional baklava recipe

To make the dish tasty, you need to follow the recipe and not use unnecessary ingredients. It will take 1.5 hours to cook. The quantity is for 10 people.

To prepare dessert you need to take the following products:

  • For the base: 200 g each of butter or margarine and sour cream, egg, approximately 3.5 tbsp. flour and 1/2 teaspoon of soda;
  • For filling: 2 tbsp. walnuts, 1.5 tbsp. sugar, 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon and vanilla sugar, and cardamom to taste;
  • You will need to make two fillings, for which you will need: 100 g butter, 1 tbsp. sugar, 150 ml water and 50 ml honey. Also take one yolk to give the dessert a glossy surface.

You should start by preparing the test:

  • To do this, combine sour cream, soft butter and egg. Mix everything well and start adding flour and soda in portions;
  • Knead the dough, which should ultimately be elastic and fluffy. Using a knife, divide into 4 parts, wrap in cling film to prevent the surface from drying out, and leave for 20 minutes.

At this time, let's move on to the filling:


  1. Set aside a few nuts for decoration and chop the rest into crumbs;
  2. To do this, it is best to put them in a bag and tap them with a kitchen hammer. Then add sugar and spices to them;
  3. To prepare baklava, roll out each piece of dough into a thin layer and place on a baking sheet, alternating with the filling. The result will be 7 layers: 4 dough and 3 fillings;
  4. Using a sharp knife, cut everything into diamond shapes, but so that the bottom layer of dough remains intact;
  5. Brush everything on top with yolk and place half or a quarter of the nuts set aside at the beginning on each piece;
  6. Place everything in an oven preheated to 200 degrees and after 15 minutes. take out the baking sheet, divide everything again with a knife and pour melted butter. Leave for another 45 minutes. into the oven.

At this time, you should prepare another fill:

  • Dissolve sugar in water, bring to a boil and cook until dissolved. When the syrup has cooled a little, add honey to it and mix thoroughly;
  • Remove the dish from the oven, renew the cuts again and pour 1 teaspoon of syrup onto each nut first, and distribute the remaining amount among the cuts;
  • Leave everything to cool and soak for a while, then cut the diamonds completely and are ready to serve.

Recipe for honey Armenian puff pastry baklava

If you don’t want to bother with the dough, you can buy it ready-made, but we will offer a homemade recipe.

For this option, take the following products:


  1. For the base: wheat flour, about 300 g, a pack of butter, about 75 ml of ice water, an egg, 1 teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt;
  2. For the filling: about 250 g of walnuts, the same amount of butter and powder, and another 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of vanilla;
  3. For decoration: walnut halves and egg;
  4. For filling: thick honey, approximately 150 g, and no more than 100 ml of hot water.

To prepare baklava you need to start with the dough:

  • In order not to spend a lot of time preparing it, we suggest focusing on a simplified version. It is recommended to take the flour cold; it needs to be sifted. The butter should be hard and grate it on a coarse grater or chop it with a knife;
  • Dissolve salt and sugar in ice water, add an egg and mix well. Pour the resulting mixture into the flour and knead the dough. Knead it with oiled hands;
  • Cover it with film and leave for 40 minutes. in a refrigerator. You need to roll out the dough into 4 identical layers. Grease each of them with oil and place on top of each other;
  • Fold everything in the middle and roll it out. Then divide the resulting layer into 4 parts, coat with oil again, fold and roll out. Repeat the process a couple more times.

For the filling, chop the nuts and combine them with powder, vanilla and cinnamon:


  1. To prepare the honey filling, mix honey with hot water. Take a baking sheet and grease it with oil. Wipe the rolling pin with flour and use it to lay out a layer so that it covers the edges of the baking sheet;
  2. Then pour melted butter over everything and add the filling. The next layer is layer, butter and filling, and then repeat everything again. The edges should be pinched and left for 20 minutes;
  3. Brush everything on top with yolk, divide into portions and place half of the nuts in the center of each piece. Cook in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes;
  4. In 10 minutes. After starting cooking, pour the filling over everything.

Recipe for making Armenian baklava from yeast dough

There is a legend that every housewife should be able to prepare this dessert in order for family life to be strong and happy.

To prepare, take the following products:

  1. For the base: 750 g flour, about 300 g granulated sugar, 1 tbsp. water, 2 yolks and 50 g of yeast;
  2. For the filling: nuts, about 300 g, 250 g butter, 175 g honey and a little cardamom.

Let's start preparing this Armenian dish again with dough:


  • The first thing to do is soak the yeast in warm water. After this, mix everything and add flour in portions. Everything needs to be kneaded for about 15 minutes, and then send it to a warm place for 45 minutes;
  • At this time, we move on to the filling, but first set aside a few whole nut halves for decoration. Grind the rest and mix with sugar and cardamom;
  • Divide the finished dough into 14 parts, which should be rolled out as thinly as possible, otherwise the dish will not turn out tender.

Take a baking sheet and start assembling the dish:

  1. First, 3 layers without filling, which need to be greased with melted butter, honey and sprinkled with sugar. Place about 1/5 of the entire filling on the 3rd layer;
  2. After this comes the dough with butter, honey and filling. Repeat this 3 times;
  3. The next layer is 2 sheets without filling, but with butter and honey, and after 3 sheets with filling;
  4. It remains to lay out 3 more layers without filling and brush the top with yolk for a rosy color;
  5. The top layers should be divided into portions and each one should be decorated with a nut. Place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 10 minutes. baklava and then grease it with oil and again for 20 minutes. into the oven;
  6. When everything is ready, brush everything with honey.

Recipe for making baklava with kefir

Another original option for preparing a delicious dish.

Amount of ingredients for 20 servings:

  1. Take 5 eggs, approximately 3.5 tbsp. flour and 300 g margarine, and another 2 tbsp. Sahara;
  2. In addition, you will need a bag of baking powder, 1 tbsp. kefir and raisins, and another 2 tbsp. walnuts.

Step 1: prepare the filling.

To prepare real Armenian baklava, you will need 3 types of roasted nuts: pistachios, almonds and walnuts.
Place the required amount of nuts in a clean and dry blender bowl and grind them into crumbs. You should start chopping at a low speed, gradually increasing it and bringing the nuts to the consistency you need. Small pieces of nuts are allowed in the filling, but not more than 5 millimeters in thickness.
Pour the nut mass into a deep bowl, add the required amount of sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and mix the total mass with a tablespoon until smooth. The filling is ready. At the same time as preparing the nut filling, you can remove the dough from the packaging, unroll the layers and let them defrost.

Step 2: Prepare a baking sheet and melt the butter.


Take a large non-stick baking tray with an approximate size of 43 by 50 centimeters, or whatever you have, and grease it with a small amount of butter. 2 – 3 tablespoons it will be quite enough, this is approximately 20 grams.
Turn on the stove to a low level and place a saucepan on it with 100 grams of butter. Melt the fat without letting it boil. Constantly stir the butter with a tablespoon to melt faster. Add a shelled chicken egg to a deep plate and beat it with a whisk until fluffy. Then add it to the cooled fat, whisking continuously.

Step 3: Layer and cut the baklava.


Unfold 1 sheet of dough to its full width and length. Place it on the table, previously sprinkled with a small amount of sifted wheat flour, and roll it into a thin layer using a rolling pin. It will be very big, so just cut it into 2 equal parts with a knife, carefully place one of them on a greased baking sheet. Brush the sheet of dough with melted butter using a pastry brush.
Separate the ground nuts by eye into 3 equal parts. Sprinkle one part evenly over the first layer of dough, and cover the nuts with the second layer of dough. Brush the second layer of dough with melted butter and place the second part of the nuts on it again.
Prepare the second layer of dough using the above method, cut into 2 parts and place one of them on the nuts. In the end you should succeed 4 layers of dough and 3 layers of nut mass. The last layer of baklava is the remaining sheet of puff pastry. Pour the remaining melted butter onto the still raw baklava in an even layer.
Then take a large, long, sharp knife and cut the baklava lengthwise into long strips of approximate thickness up to 6 – 7 centimeters and then across.
You should end up with diamond-shaped pieces or you can cut the still raw sweet into squares. Preheat the oven up to 180 – 190 degrees Celsius, and place the baking tray with baklava for 30 - 40 minutes in the refrigerator.

Step 4: bake the baklava.


After 30 - 40 minutes, remove the baking sheet with baklava from the refrigerator and place it in the preheated oven. Bake the baklava for 40 – 45 minutes until fully prepared. During this time, the dough will bake and the surface of the baklava will be covered with a light beige crust. Now the main thing is to resist and not eat a piece, although at the moment the baklava is still a bit dry.

Step 5: prepare the filling.


While the baklava is baking, prepare the filling. Turn the stove on to medium level and place a saucepan on it with the required amount of clean distilled water, bring it to a boil and add sugar to the boiling water. Boil the sugar syrup, stirring with a tablespoon until it thickens and the sugar grains are completely dissolved within 5 minutes. Then screw the stove to a low level, add the required amount of honey to the saucepan, stir the liquid mass until smooth and cook the filling some more. 8 minutes. Leave the saucepan with the filling off the stove and let it cool; the consistency should be medium thick.

Step 6: pour baklava.


Remove the baking sheet from the oven using a kitchen towel and place it on the kitchen counter. Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava along the marked slits, as during baking, the dough has increased in size and stuck together a little. Pour the filling into a large measuring cup and pour it over the baklava.
And here’s a little trick: pour over the baklava so that the honey mixture gets between the layers of your culinary masterpiece. To do this, take a kitchen towel and, using it to hold the baking sheet with baklava, very slowly pour the filling onto it.
This way, the sweet liquid will flow to the bottom of the pan, slowly, gradually soaking layer by layer. Cover the baklava with a sheet of baking paper to prevent it from drying out and leave it to rest. 6 – 8 hours soak in this form at room temperature. During this time, the dough will absorb all the filling, the baklava will become soft, breathtakingly tasty and sweet.
A little patience and you will be able to taste this magnificent dessert. After 6 – 8 hours, place a piece of baklava on a plate using a kitchen spatula and enjoy!

Step 7: serve Armenian baklava.


Armenian baklava is served in portions on plates. Just before serving, you can decorate it with chocolate syrup or any other types of syrups.
This type of dessert can be supplemented with dried fruits, fresh berries or fresh fruit. It is pleasant to savor this yummy with fresh brewed tea, milkshake, coffee or citrus juice. Incredibly tasty and not expensive! Bon appetit!

- – Sometimes a stick of vanilla, cinnamon, lemon or orange zest is added to the filling to improve the aroma and taste.

- – The set of nuts used in this dish is not important; you can prepare your baklava from 1 or 2 types of nuts.

- – In preparing the filling, instead of sugar, you can use powdered sugar; for the above indicated amount of ingredients for preparing the filling, 100 grams of powdered sugar.

Baklava is the most popular delicacy originally from the East. This incredibly delicious honey-flavored dessert, consisting of puff pastry, nuts and bee nectar, can be prepared in different ways. This article is devoted to the production of such a type of pastry as Armenian baklava. Many housewives will be interested to know what the features of this particular version of oriental sweets are and how step by step you can bake baklava in Armenian as close as possible to the original.

According to many sources, this sweet was first made several thousand years ago in one of the ancient Middle Eastern states. The history of its creation is full of contradictory facts, but one thing can be said for sure - the magnificent taste of baklava forced travelers to take the recipe for its production with them.

Moving along the Silk Road, crossing deserts, mountainous and sea regions, recipes were enriched with various culinary nuances of the country in which they settled. And so, along with silk and spices, oriental sweetness reached the Armenian Highlands.

Here, local chefs, focusing on their own tastes and preferences, improved the recipe for foreign baked goods, including cinnamon powder, ground cloves and other spices. Of course, the journey of baklava did not end there, since then this sweetness smoothly flowed into the cuisines of other nations.

Today, baklava is baked in many corners of the Earth, and not only in the Middle East or Transcaucasia, but also in countries such as Greece, Canada, etc. Of course, disputes about the origin and sources of sweetness do not subside, so it is possible that the recipe contains Armenian baklava, which we will present below, representatives of other nationalities will be able to “identify” their own pastries.

Read also: Sheki baklava recipe

Recipe for making Armenian baklava

Recipes for Armenian baklava are presented in abundance in cookbooks and on specialized online resources. Below is a time-tested and time-tested option for preparing honey sweets in Armenian. Let us immediately warn you that it will not be possible to make it quickly and in the shortest possible time, since the dish requires special attention and composure.

Main Components

To make a fragrant and melt-in-your-mouth honey pie, you must purchase (prepare) the required ingredients in advance. I would especially like to note that the list of components of oriental sweets is quite impressive.

For the test you will need:

  • 200 g butter or margarine;
  • 200 g sour cream;
  • 1 egg;
  • 500-600 g flour;
  • ½ packet of baking powder.

For the layer you need to take:

  • 300-350 g walnuts;
  • 350 g granulated sugar;
  • 1 teaspoon vanillin;
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon;
  • a little cardamom.

For the 1st fill:

  • 120 g butter.

For the 2nd fill:

  • 2 tbsp. spoons of honey;
  • 200 g granulated sugar;
  • 160 ml boiled water.

In addition, in order for the finished baked goods to have a gloss that is pleasing to the eye, you need to prepare the yolk of one egg, which will be used to grease the dough before baking. You can use any honey, even crystallized honey, since it will still have to be heated.

Preparation of dough, filling and filling

You need to prepare Armenian baklava in stages, and you need to start with “creating” a dough that resembles a puff paste in structure. In a separate container combine sour cream, butter, egg. Mix everything thoroughly and add flour and baking powder in small parts.

The finished mass should be fluffy and elastic to the touch. Using a knife, divide it into four parts, wrap it in cling film (to prevent drying out) and leave it for a quarter of an hour in a cool place. Can be stored in the refrigerator.

While the dough is resting, you should move on to the filling. This part of Armenian baklava is prepared very simply. Set aside some of the nuts to decorate the finished dessert; the remaining portion is crushed in a blender or manually using a kitchen hammer. Add granulated sugar and seasonings.

To prepare the dough for baklava according to the classic recipe, soften the butter: at room temperature or for 30 seconds in the microwave at low power (300-450). Add a small egg or just the egg yolk, sour cream and mix.


Combine the resulting mass with flour, into which baking powder is mixed if desired. The amount of flour may vary due to differences in its properties between different manufacturers, and also depends on the resulting softness of the softened butter.

If you don’t like the light dough in the finished baklava, then you can make it brownish by adding sugar syrup to it, but in this case the baklava will be even sweeter (even more sugary!) and the calorie content will be even higher.


By hand or using a household appliance, quickly knead the soft, flaky dough and place it in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.


Nuts for the filling can be almost any kind. For a more budget-friendly, but also very tasty option, add peanuts to expensive nuts - walnuts or hazelnuts, for example, 1:1, 1:2 or to your taste.


Set aside walnut quarters (whole almond or hazelnut kernels) in the required quantity (for example, 24 pieces), and chop the remaining nuts.


For the filling, you need to combine nuts, crushed by rolling with a rolling pin, in a meat grinder or using a blender, with finely ground sugar and ground spices to taste (vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon).


The chilled dough needs to be divided into several parts - their number will depend on how tall you want the finished dessert and taking into account the size of your mold. For example, for my 20x30 rectangular pan, I divided the dough into only 4 pieces. The baklava will turn out to be low, but this is exactly what my family prefers.


Roll each part of the dough into a layer to fit the mold - very thin.


You will need three portions of the filling, so immediately divide it into 3 equal parts. Place a layer of dough in a greased pan and spread the nut-sugar filling evenly. Repeat twice more, ending with a layer of dough. The result should be the following layers: dough\nuts\dough\nuts\dough\nuts\dough.


The top layer of dough needs to be marked out into future portions. To do this, first cut several parallel lines with a knife, without cutting the very bottom layer of dough! Then make cuts to create diamond shapes. You cannot cut the bottom layer of dough, otherwise all the filling will flow out to the bottom of the mold, the bottom dough will burn and then become excessively soggy, and the top layers will not be soaked as needed.


Lubricate the surface with yolk mixed with 1 tbsp. cold water - for gloss. Stick a nut into the middle of each diamond.


Place the mold with the baklava preparation in a preheated oven (200 degrees). After fifteen minutes, take it out and renew the cuts with a knife, also without cutting them to the bottom layer of dough. Don't forget to run the knife along the sides of the mold.

Make the first fill - oil. Brush the surface evenly with melted butter.
Return the pan with the preparation back to the oven for another 30-45 minutes - the time depends on the properties of the oven and the height of the baklava.

Description

Armenian honey baklava– a tasty, aromatic and orientally sweet dish. There are a huge number of baklava recipes in the world. We invite you to try a time-tested step-by-step recipe with photos of preparing honey baklava at home. It is believed that this is the Armenian version of the dish, although its Azerbaijani roots cannot be ruled out either.

In general, Armenians rarely prepare multi-layer baklava (as in this case), usually limiting themselves to only three or four layers. But multi-layered Armenian baklava still exists, although it is rare. This is exactly what we will prepare today from very simple, affordable products.

Baklava according to this recipe turns out to be very tender and literally melts in your mouth. Prepare it to see for yourself.

Ingredients


  • (4 tbsp.)

  • (350 g)

  • (2.5 tbsp.)

  • (4 things.)

  • (300 g)

  • (2 tbsp.)

  • (2 tbsp.)

  • (1 tsp)

Cooking steps

    Let's start with the test. Grind all the flour and 300 g of butter until crumbly. Separate the yolks of three eggs and add to the butter-flour mixture. We also put sour cream and baking soda there and knead a homogeneous elastic dough, from which we form a ball and send it to settle in the refrigerator for an hour.

    After an hour, take out the dough and divide it into 8 equal parts, from which we also roll into balls.

    Let's start preparing the filling. Grind the walnuts into coarse flour. We combine them with the whites of 4 eggs and sugar.

    The result should be a mixture like this.

    Roll out each piece of dough into a very thin layer, lightly sprinkling the worktop with flour (otherwise the dough will stick).

    We transfer the layer of dough to a baking sheet, cover it evenly, but not very thickly, with the filling, cover it with the next layer and so alternate dough-filling-dough until the last layer.

    Cut the resulting monolith into diamonds, cover with egg yolk and decorate with walnut halves. Now we send the baklava to bake in the oven at 200 degrees. It will be ready in about 45 minutes.

    About 7 minutes before the baklava is ready, you need to take it out and pour it with a mixture of honey and 50 g of melted butter, and then finish baking.

    After removing the baklava from the oven, be sure to let it cool directly on the baking sheet, otherwise it will leak..

    Now you can enjoy the amazing taste of Armenian honey baklava. This is the perfect dessert for a homemade tea party.

    Bon appetit!