Baklava

I've never tried Baklava, I'm not a huge fan of nuts and despite being a fan of try before you buy I've never been tempted at food markets. This recipe is quite scary, not for the method, which is pretty straight forward, but the sheer quantities of butter and sugar involved. I thought the meringue was bad this is incredible! I did have a bit of trouble with the sugar syrup, you cook it and boil until it thickens. I was boiling it for ages but just not thickening, so I tweeted Lorraine for advice, she replied pretty quickly and thankfully it didn't need to thicken too much so I just poured it over the pastry and it soaked it all up. I offered this Baklava to quite a few people and their first reaction was that they'd never had a piece quite so big, but I was just following instructions and made 16 pieces!! I did enjoy it, but one piece was definitely enough for me, despite me having a sweet tooth. Most of it has gone to family who are bigger baklava fans than me and I'm glad they enjoyed it.