Baklava

            Baklava is a dessert that I have known since I was a little girl. I use to think it was a dessert only associated with family or special events. However, once I learned how to make it, it became a dish that I could make whenever I wanted to. There are many justifications for my decision to choose baklava. This dessert makes me think of many family parties that I got to experience in Damascus, Syria. Along with cultural memories, it reminds me of my mother and the time we spent together baking goods such as baklava together. This was the first dessert that I ever made for my now fiancé on our first date, so it definitely is close to my heart.

            This dessert has a very unique taste and texture. Some people could dislike this food due to the uniqueness it does provide. However, the first time I had it, I loved it, and could not wait to learn how to make it. The ingredients required for baklava are an assortment of nuts, phyllo dough, cinnamon, sugar, honey, and lots of butter. This dessert provides both a soft texture and a crunchy texture. When the syrup sauce is poured over the dessert, the baked nut mixture becomes a bit on the soft mushy side, while the butter layered phyllo dough becomes extremely flakey and gives it a crunch when you bite into it. All in all, this dessert has an overwhelming sweet and cinnamon flavor pallet.

            This dish can contain up to about a cup of butter, one cup of sugar, and one half a cup of honey depending on the baker. So needless to say, the nutritional facts on this item are not very great. According to Allrecipes.com nutritional facts (which is not completely similar to the recipe I have perfected over the years) one serving, which is a small triangle, could be about four hundred calories and about thirty-eight carbohydrates. When you are splurging on a unique dessert like this, don’t look at the nutritional facts, just enjoy. Maybe spend some extra time at the gym later on.

            In trying to tackle the history of this dish, I called my mother and asked her some questions. She informed me that baklava was a dish that was very popular in Middle Eastern country such as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and many others. This dessert is also a popular dish in the Greek islands and also in some Italian counties. Since my mother is Syrian, I got the historical knowledge she had about the Syrian traditions. She said there really is not a date that she could guess that this dessert started, but that it really dates back centuries. She informed me this dish used to be a treat for the nobles but eventual became a dessert that was served at very special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, or Ramadan.  She told me that this dessert has more modernly become a tradition that mothers pass on to their children through the process of learning to bake. This was actually how I learned to bake this dessert, through my mother. So needless to say, for my family and I, the tradition of passing this recipe down generations has continued.     

            The current use of this dessert is simply as a tasteful treat. Even when I have visited Syria, this dessert was on many restaurants dessert lists as well. Here in Pennsylvania you can get this dessert at several Arabic or Greek restaurants, or certain ethnic grocery stores. This dessert can be very rewarding to make on your own, but it also can be extremely time consuming and tedious. Anyone that has worked with phyllo dough before would know that it is very fragile and easily rips. (Which is not something you want for baklava)

            This dessert can have many different meanings to different individuals. To me, this dessert really signifies family and togetherness. I really only make this dessert when we are having a family gathering, or when it is a special occasion. However, to someone else this dish could hold a different meaning. It really just depends on the memories it holds.

Photo was taken by me of a baklava I made about two months ago

Any of the historical information was provided to me through my mothers knowledge and most likely her mother because she probably called and asked her mother questions once I brought them to her attention

I also used allrecipies.com to get an idea of what their nutritional facts were. However that information was an estimate based on allrecipies.com and information my mother and I exchanged back and forth