GBBO Challenge Final Week: Chetna's Masala Chai Baklava

Well, I'm having a "crackin'" day today: I was featured with no less than three recipes/pictures on the ELLE Food Netherlands website!! I can tell you, when I saw traffic coming from that site, my heart skipped a beat. To me, this is a pretty big deal! I danced around the room a bit, hypered, highfived my mom and took a screenshot before it will eventually come down from the FRONTPAGE! Simply over the moon. The recipes featured are Gevulde Koeken, Southern Dutch Apple Pie and Broccoli and Gouda Cheese Tart. Alright, forgive this slight happy-rant, but I couldn't help but share this with you. Now on to what this post should actually be about: the crispy, sugary, sticky yumminess that is baklava.

For my last Bake Off Challenge post, I decided I'd pay hommage to Chetna. The "Queen of Flavors" exited in the semi-final, which I thought was ridiculous, seeing as she had baked such beautiful things before. I'm not saying Nancy isn't great, but looking at the whole series, I think Chetna might have been better. 

Josh Widdicombe might be right in that "Chetna is a genious". The flavors of this baklava are amazing! Cashew, almond and cardamom filling and a chai tea flavored syrup: what more do you want? And I want to say that Mary was wrong (there I said it) that it didn't have those traditional baklava layers. Biting into one of these was a feast of layers of filo pastry and crispy nut filling, with a nice sticky finish. The syrup was amazing I thought, although when I let my mom taste it, she said "oh! you made cough syrup!" - ehm no I didn't mom! But thanks anyway.. 

I have now developed a firm disliking for storebought filo pastry though. It was just way too dry and came out of the package torn. I had to make some patches (which you'll see in the pictures) to stop the filling from burning. I think it might actually have been better to make my own, but I understand that that's not really appealing to everyone. I'd suggest you buy good quality filo pastry, from the fridge instead of the freezer if that's available where you are. It's just so fiddly to work with! Get a good dose of patience before you start, is all I'm saying ;) I used a couple of substitutions as ingredients go, I've noted those after the ingredients Chetna used.

As for predictions on tonight's GBBO winner: it must and should be Richard. You can not win star baker 5 (!) times and NOT win! That would be just ridiculous right? Should he not win, my second favorite is Luís. He has delivered consistently beautiful bakes, and he's so precise and organized. I thought Nancy would have been better in the semi final as its theme was patisserie, but she let me down a little. Anyway: we'll see tonight, I'm very excited to see what this talented bunch will bake! 

Recipe Chetna's Masala Chai Baklava

Source: BBC

Tools: pastry brush, food processor or blender

Ingredients

Filling:

100   gr toasted flaked almonds
100   gr cashew nuts
½      teaspoon cardamom seeds, ground 

Syrup:

300   gr granulated sugar
100   gr clear honey
3      breakfast tea bags (I used Earl Grey)
¼     tsp cardamom seeds (I used ground cardamom)
2½cm fresh root ginger, finely chopped

For the filo:

12     sheets ready-made filo pastry (keep the sheets under a damp tea towel until use)

75     gr unsalted butter, melted 

1. For the filling, combine the almonds, cashews and cardamom in a food processor with blade attachment or blender and pulse until finely chopped. Set aside.

2. To make the syrup, combine the sugar, honey, tea bags, cardamom and ginger with 200ml/7fl oz water in a medium saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes then set aside to cool.

3. When the syrup has reached a safe temperature, sieve the syrup and leave to cool completely in the freezer.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease a baking tray with butter or line it with baking parchment.

5. Brush a sheet of pastry with butter then fold it over. Spread about a tablespoon of the filling mixture over it, leaving a 5mm/¼in border on all sides.

6. Starting at one of the long edges, roll up the filo into a long cylinder shape. Brush generously with butter and roll the cylinder into a tight spiral. Brush with butter again and place on the prepared baking tray. Repeat the process with the remaining sheets of filo and place them next to each other in the baking tray.

7. Bake for 50 minutes, or until golden-brown.

8. When cooked, spoon half the syrup all over the baklavas. Leave for five minutes and then spoon over the remaining syrup. Let the baklava cool a little, then serve.