Baklava is a layered pastry dessert, usually made with filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. The recipe below is an easy version of this Oriental dessert with short pastry instead of filo dough.

Ingredients for the dough:

750 g wheat flour (if you use whole-wheat flour, you will require less – around 500-600 g)

200 g sour cream

180 g melted butter

½ tsp soda

½ tsp salt

a pinch of vanillin

Ingredients for the filling:

300 g walnuts (if you want you can use a mixture of different nuts)

400-450 g sugar

4 tbsp of sour cream

spices – optional (you can use some cinnamon, cardamom or ground clovesif you want, but the dessert works well without any spices)

Instructions:

1. To make the dough, mix the sour cream, melted butter, vanilla, salt and soda well.
2. Add the flour and knead the dough well. The dough shouldn’t be too hard, and at the same time shouldn’t stick to your fingers. Put the dough into a plastic bag or cover with a towel and place into the fridge for about an hour.
3. Make the filling by grinding the nuts and mixing them well with the sugar and sour cream (add the spices if you chose to use them).
4. Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 3 equal parts.
5. Roll the first one out on a baking sheet (it’s better to brush the sheet with some of the melted butter beforehand, so that the baklava doesn’t stick to it), this is the first layer. The layers should be around 5 mm thick.
6. Put half of the filling into the center of the layer and spread it evenly.
7. Roll out the second layer, put it carefully over the first one and spread the rest of the filling over it.
8. Roll out the third layer, put it on top of the baklava and carefully pinch the edges together, so that the filling doesn’t get out and burn while baking. You can lubricate the top layer with some milk or sour cream to get itto shine a bit after baking.
9. Cut the assembled baklava diagonally into diamonds or into squares 5-10 cm wide. You can also place half a walnut on top of each diamond (square), if you want, and slightly press it in.
10. Bake the baklava at the temperature of 190 °C for about 20-30 minutes until it’s golden brown.

Offer the baklava to Krishna and enjoy the prasadam

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