The first time I made this, it was a total disaster, but I was trying to experiment. Needless to say, we’ve eaten a lot of baklava lately while I’ve been perfecting this, but I think I’ve just about got it right. FOLLOW THE DAMN DIRECTIONS and you, too, can make perfect, easy baklava!
What you need:
1 big ass glass casserole dish or cake pan
2 boxes frozen phyllo dough – thawed
2 cups vegan sugar (I use 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup reg sugar)
2 cups ground pistachio nuts
3 T combo of cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, and clove – mostly cinnamon and cardamom, though. Mix this with the nuts in a big ziploc baggie.
1 1/2 cups vegan butter, melted, with 1 t vanilla extract stirred in
First, melt the sugar in a saucepan with just enough water to melt the sugar and turn it into a paste. Continue adding water and cooking until you have a sugar syrup. DO NOT LET IT BECOME CARAMEL.
Pour 2 – 3 T of the melted butter into the bottom of your pan and spread. Put down 8 layers of phyllo. Sprinkle a layer of the nut and spice mixture and then drizzle the sugar syrup over that. Finish it off with a little of the melted butter and add 4 more layers of phyllo. Continue doing this until you reach the end of your phyllo, ending with 6 layers instead of 4. Drizzle the top with the remaining vegan butter.
Score the baklava (cutting the top but not all the way to the bottom, just to give yourself a template for cutting it once its been baked thoroughly). Make 4 cuts from top to bottom, making 4 even rows lengthwise. Then cut crosswise all the way down, making a triangle at the top and bottom and the rest should be diamonds.
Bake at 300 for about an hour, maybe an extra 15 or 20 minutes. It should be golden brown on top and puffy. Allow to cool for several hours or even overnight, then cut the pieces where you scored them.
Pull the pieces out and place on a serving platter. Now you’ve got some damn good baklava!
Tagged as: dessert
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
This is great! I’ve been missing baklava since becoming vegan. I grew up eating it from my Greek heritage. Thank you for sharing a vegan version.
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I’m missing the step where you used the sugar syrup. Do you pour it on the hot baklava right out of the oven like non-vegan baklava? Thanks
Nevermind, I can’t read, apparently. Thanks!
I thought phyllo dough contains egg…
Nope! Not usually. The kind I buy is from a mainstream grocery store and it is 100% vegan. Always make sure to read the ingredients to be sure, but most often you can find phyllo dough and pie crust that is vegan.