secret baklava recipe | Ciragan Palace Istanbul

Here's the secret Festive Baklava recipe used by the pastry chefs at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. What makes this Festive Baklava so unique? Here's the chef's description: 

The divine pastry is then enhanced with cream and festive spices including cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove and black pepper.  The perfect marriage of sweet and spicy!  A candied orange peel garnishes the dish to resemble the finest of fruit cakes or Christmas stolen.

INGREDIENTS for 20 pieces

For the Filling

4 gram spice mix

1200 pomegranate juice

750 gr cream

240 gr glucose

2200 gr bitter couverture 

For the syrup

2 cups (1 lb) sugar

2 cups (16 fl oz) water

1 stick cinnamon

1 tbsp lemon juice

For the cover

40 sheet filo pastry

METHOD

1. Place all the ingredients under 'filling' in a bowl. Mix all for middle of baklava
2. Combine until blended.
3. Place all the ingredients for the syrup together in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, while stirring for the sugar to dissolve. Simmer for 10 minutes and leave it to cool.
4. Brush a 12X10 in baking dish with butter.
5. Brush 10 sheets of filo with melted butter.
6. Lay them on the dish one by one.
7. Spread the filling in the dish.
8. Now top it off with further 10-12 sheets of pastry, buttering each sheet as needed (You can trim off the excess pastry hanging on the side of your baking dish. Now brush the top of the pastry with more butter)
9. With a sharp knife, score the top layers in large diamond shapes.
10. Bake in a preheated 325F oven for 1 hour or until the top turns golden brown. If you find that the top is turning color too quickly, then cover the top with foil.
11. Remove from the oven and slowly pour the syrup over the top.
12. Now comes the MOST DIFFICULT part. You have gotta to let it sit for at least 5-6 hours for it to absorb the syrup.

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