A gluten free take on a classic Greek dessert with a floral twist!

Yield: up to 2 dozen
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Gluten Free Pistachio & Rose Baklava

At the age of 18, I was desperate to travel the world. I dreamt of leaving America and heading anywhere, passport and camera in hand. As a student at uni, jetsetting off around the world wouldn't be an option until a semester spent studying abroad my final year, so I had to make do with the next best thing: hanging out with international students in my campus's I-House, going to cultural talks and food festivals. It was at one such festival that I fell in love with the sweet, nutty heaven that is baklava.



Traditionally, baklava is made with filo pastry, but this isn't gluten free. After my success with gluten free puff pastry with my gluten free mille feuille, I was quite interested in how gluten free baklava would fare. Everything else is the same as normal, resulting in a traditional baklava with a slight Coeliac-friendly twist. I like my baklava with lots of filling, so don't be afraid to really pile it on each layer!

This recipe was developed as an entry into the #HolidayFlavours competition hosted by Travel Supermarket.

Ingredients:

For the baklava
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 fresh cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
75 grams chopped walnuts
75 grams flaked almonds
100 ml Greek honey
150 grams chopped pistachios
200 grams butter, melted
300 grams sugar
zest of an orange
few drops rose water
dried rose petals
pack gluten free puff pastry
 

Gluten Free Pistachio & Rose Puff Pastry Baklava

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Make the syrup by placing the sugar, honey, rose water, cinnamon stick, orange zest and water in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and let the syrup reduce by about 1/3. Leave the syrup to cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pulse all the nuts in a food processor until they are coarse but still textured. Combine the blitzed nuts with the ground cloves, cinnamon and rose petals.
4. Grease a shallow baking tray with some of the melted butter and prepare the puff pastry. Roll the pastry thinner and cut into thirds that are equally sized. 
5. Place a piece of puff pastry in the bottom of the tray, brush butter over the pastry and spread on about 1/3 of the nut mixture. Top with another layer of pastry, brushed with melted butter followed by more of the nuts and then finally, the last layer. Brush butter over the last layer and cut into squares, diamonds or triangles.
6. Bake the baklava for 20 minutes or until beginning to brown and the pastry crisps up. 
7.  Pour 1/2 of the syrup over the cooked baklava and let it absorb for about five minutes, before dosing again in the remaining syrup. Decorate each piece with a scattering of rose petals and serve.