Home-made Baklava serviced with home-made ice-cream

Ingredients

• 250-300g Salted roasted mixed nuts of almonds and pistachios 
• 180g Melted butter 
• 2 boxes Phyllo pastry 
• 2 teaspoons Olive oil
• 1 and 3/4 cups Sugar
• 1 and 1/3 cups Water 
• 1 tin Condensed milk
• 500g Whipping cream 
• 1 tablespoon Brandy
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract 
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• ½ lemon

Method      

1. Pre-heat oven at 176 degrees
2. Ice-cream - In a mixing bowl empty condensed milk and whipping cream
3. Add a tablespoon of vanilla extract and brandy
4. Using a hand mixer whip the mixture until stiff peaks
5. Pour the mixture into a 2-litre bowl and put in the freezer
6. Baklava - grind mixed nuts sort of fine in a blender
7. Melt the butter and add cooking oil to prevent the butter from congealing
8. Unwrap phyllo pastry and baste with melted butter. Blend nuts, cinnamon and sugar
9. Sprinkle grinded nuts on one phyllo sheet and roll. Baste another sheet of phyllo with butter and roll on the first sheet of phyllo with nuts. Repeat the process until you have four rolled phyllo sheets
10. Put rolled up phyllo sheets in casserole basted in butter
11. Cut up phyllo rolled phyllo sheets
12. Bake in pre-heated oven for 45-50 minutes
13. Syrup for Baklava - In a saucepan add 1 & 1/3 of water
14. Add 1&3/4 sugar + cinnamon stick + juice of ½ lemon
15. Cook on low to medium heat for 5-7 minutes
16. Set aside to cool

Notes

The ice-cream needs about 4 hours to set.

The cooled down syrup will be poured over the baked phyllo sheet immediately it’s ready and out of the oven for the baklava to soak up the syrup