Cold Baklava Recipe
The most popular dessert of the last days is undoubtedly cold baklava in Turkey.
Once tres leches cake and san sebastian cheesecake had this grade in Turkey. Every shop were selling those two desserts and in short time you will start to see cold baklava in these shops.
I haven't taste it in a dessert shop yet as I could not find the chance to go to Turkey after the cold baklava started to wreak havoc. But I liked it very much in all the different experiments I have done so far. If it's not made by someone who doesn't know how to cook with bad ingredients, and the person who tastes doesn't have an attitude against popular things, I think anyone who likes sweet will like it too.
But I have to admit that when I first heard about it, I was also a bit prejudiced and had conservative thoughts about these modern/popular touches. But back then I didn't know these new touches worked so well. (As if Turkish gastronomy needs this) I approve of this change.
While creating my cold baklava recipe, I based it on my easy walnut baklava recipe. Of course, due to the nature of the cold baklava, the ingredients have changed a lot and that recipe is no longer that recipe, but it was a very good guide to start because it is a perfect recipe. If you are going to make classic baklava with store bought baklava dough leaves, I would say use that recipe.
There are two things that determine whether the baklava is crispy or doughy. The first one is the cooking process of baklava, the second is the consistency of the syrup. If the baklava is not cooked at low temperature, the inside will become doughy after absorbing the syrup. If the syrup is not thick enough, the baklava becomes doughy when the syrup is spread over the baklava. If both the inside is not cooked well and the syrup is not thickened enough, the baklava will become muddy.
As I said above, I did not eat cold baklava outside, but in all the photos I saw, the consistency of the cold baklava looked very soft. I don't like soft baklava. So, on my first try, I prepared the upper layers as crispy and the lower layers sticky with the density of syrup, and I loved it. Then I prepared it in the consistency I see in the photos and frankly I did not enjoy it very much. For the latest photos and video, I made one that is both acceptable to me and to the one that can say that this is not cold baklava. But when I do it from now on, I will make it to the consistency I like.
Enjoy ...
Cold Baklava Recipe with Video
Ingredients
- 500 g baklava dough leaves,
- 2 cups of ground pistachios,
- 250 g butter,
For the syrup;
- 3 cups of sugar,
- 3 cups of milk.
For topping;
- 50 g of dark chocolate,
- Ground Pistachio.
Preparation
- For syrup, take the milk and sugar in a pot,
- Stir until the sugar dissolves in high heat,
- When the sugar melts and the syrup begins to boil, decrease the heat and cook it for 10 minutes, then remove from heat,
- Melt the butter and strain through a very fine strainer,
- Cut the baklava dough leaves into two,
- Arrange half of the leaves in a suitable sized baking dish by applying butter between them,
- Sprinkle ground pistachio on top,
- Place the remaining leaves on top of each other in the same way by applying butter between them,
- Slice the baklava into square slices,
- Pour the remaining butter on over,
- Bake in an oven preheated to 170 C degrees until the top is well browned,
- When the top of the baklava is browned, reset the oven temperature and keep it in the oven for another 10 minutes and remove from the oven,
- Rest it for 2-3 minutes and pour the syrup over with a ladle,
- Sprinkle grated chocolate on the slices,
- Sprinkle finely ground pistachios over the slices.
Bon Appetit...