There are days, even in the summer, when I crave to bake something. It’s not because I’m craving something sweet, but it’s because I’m craving the act of baking, of making the kitchen smell lived-in and cozy despite the summer heat, mainly because there’s a lovely breeze coming in the morning and it’s still quite possible to bake in comfort at that time.
This recipe is adapted from an earlier version. It’s a recipe I’ve been testing and experimenting with for many years and I finally feel like I got my recipe just the way I want it right here. It’s delicious for breakfast with coffee or cappuccino, or a dessert after a light meal. As a dessert, I might serve it with a dollop of creme fraiche.
1/4 cup tiny blueberries, fresh or dried. If dried you might want to reconstitute them in water before starting this recipe (drain off all water before using).
Directions
You’ll need two equal size (large) mixing bowls for this recipe, but you don’t need any electric appliances, as I think a wooden spoon is just fine for mixing things. If you want to use an electric mixer for the wet ingredients, you can but don’t over-mix them.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit/
Grease (with butter) and flour a rectangular baking pan.
Mix all of the dry ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients, starting with the eggs and whisking in the oil last. Keep the blueberries separate until the end.
Slowly pour the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix each time a little dry ingredients are added. Mix until all the lumps are removed. Slowly fold in the blueberries with a spatula, but don’t crush them.
Gently pour the batter into the greased pan.
The texture is a bit grainy, which is how I really love it. The almond meal does that.
After having lived in Turkey for a good amount of time, I have been enlightened about the art of making baklava. It’s such a dessert that when made well and with the finest ingredients, is something you really do savor. It’s special. That’s why it’s the perfect celebration food, making it my choice for making on this year’s Eid ul Fitr.
Walnut Baklava with Rose Syrup on Top
You can see the variations in the notes section, and of course I’d love to hear from all of you on how you like your baklava and what you do to make it your own and special, too. To me, this recipe is one of my absolute favorites because I just love the scented aroma that filled my kitchen when this was baking, and the taste combination of walnut with rose water is sublime.
Makes approximately 50-60 pieces baklava
Special equipment
Silicone pastry brush
Full sheet pan size 13” x 18”
Dampened cotton kitchen towel
Notes on this recipe:
If you want to make a smaller batch or use less phyllo, you can cut this recipe in half and use a half sheet pan instead of a full sheet pan.
Most phyllo is sold frozen, so it must be defrosted in the refrigerator at least one day prior to making this recipe.
You don’t need to brush every single layer of phyllo with ghee; you can instead brush every 2-3 layers.
The ghee or butter should be fully melted for best results
Caster sugar/superfine sugar produces the best result, but if you have regular or cane sugar, you can work with that, too.
Instead of rose water, you can use cinnamon in the nut filling instead; not in the syrup (same amount).
Instead of rose water to make the syrup, you can use orange blossom water or simply lemon juice (same amount).
Instead of walnuts, you can use pistachio or hazelnuts for great flavor.
If you have allowed your baklava to cool before adding the syrup, warm up the syrup and pour on top. At least one of the items should be hot for the syrup to set in very well, but not both.
To organize the process, I like to make this recipe in the following order:
Step 1: Preheat the oven
Step 2: Make the syrup
Step 3: Make the nut filling
Step 4: Butter the phyllo dough, proceed to finish
To a small saucepan, add 1 ¼ cup caster sugar, 1 tablespoon rose water, and 1 ½ cup water. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat to medium low and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside as the last step in this recipe.
To make the nut filling
To a bowl, add the nuts, 1 tablespoon caster sugar, and 1 tablespoon rose water. Mix well with your hands to make sure everything is combined well.
Set aside.
To make the phyllo
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Unwrap the phyllo and spread it out flat. Place a damp cloth on the top layer so that it doesn’t dry out while you are working. Do this with every layer you leave exposed.
Brush the sheet pan generously with ghee. Add a phyllo sheet and brush it with ghee. Repeat with 14 more sheets for a total of 15sheets before the nut filling is added.
Pour in the nut mixture (2 ½ cups ) and spread it out evenly across the phyllo. Add one new phyllo sheet on top and brush with ghee. Repeat this until you have a total of 15 more sheets on top, for a total of 30 sheets.
Add the ½ cup chopped walnuts to the top.
Using a sharp, smooth knife, cut the entire sheet in several long, even strips and then again diagonally, which will create diamond shaped pieces.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and pour the cooled syrup on top. Let sit for about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
If you love coffee and ice cream, this quick dessert recipe is for you. Affogato is an Italian word for the super delicious coffee drink with ice cream added to hot coffee- and it’s fantastico, especially in the summer when you want coffee but you also want ice cream… My Sicilian grandmother used to do this all the time in the most
My Sicilian grandmother used to do this all the time in the most casual way.
My all-time favorite desserts are the simplest ones. I am not a fan of spending a lot of time making sweet things, only because I try to focus more on the main dishes but once in a while I do crave something special and sweet, particularly when I have guests to dinner or coffee. These mini bundt yogurt cakes are pretty and practical, but they also have been served in my house as part of breakfast instead of dessert. I recently had overnight guests and my friend’s daughter called these mini yogurt doughnut cakes because she loved the cake-like texture they had and were quite filling.
I make my cakes with mini bundt cake pan molds, which makes them cook quicker and come out so cute. If you don’t have these types of pans, it’s okay- use a small bread loaf pan and extend the cooking time but keep the temperature the same (as instructed below).
To start out, use two bowls: one for dry ingredients, one for the wet ones.
In the dry good bowl, add flour, sugar baking powder and salt. For the flour, I use a cake flour as opposed to an all-purpose whole wheat or regular flour, which makes these cakes too dense, in my opinion. You can find cake flour at most grocery stores or online, but my best recommendation is to look for a German or Polish wheat flour variety. They are easily found in the European foods aisle at most international grocery stores.
As for the sugar, I like to use raw cane sugar, but you can use a smaller granular sugar like turbinado. In this particular recipe, I’ve used pink Himalayan salt because that’s what I had on hand, but you can use any type of iodized or sea salt. Just mix all of these well. As for the wet ingredients, these are where you can get really creative in terms of flavor additions. The base you must have are the eggs, oil, and yogurt. I’m using Mountain High Yogurt, a halal-certified brand I’ve been talking about for many months now and made many recipes using this delicious, no-frills product.
Yes, yogurt should be halal-certified so that we know there isn’t any sort of added things like pork-based gelatin, for example.
For added flavor, I use one of a few things: extracts (no-alcohol), flavored syrups, or emulsions. In this recipe, I used a hazelnut syrup because that is the flavor I was aiming to achieve. Oil is added- I only use olive oil or grapeseed oil.
This is mixed all together and then the dry ingredients are added TO the wet ingredients, cup by cup.
This batter is then poured into greased (not floured) bundt pans.
These bundt pans are filled 3/4 the way up the top.
They will rise a bit, so they need some room to grow.
Once they’re baked (around 35 minutes), pop them out of the pan almost immedietely without letting them cool too much or they’ll stick to the pan.
I love the beautiful browning on the sides.
I wish you could smell the hazelnut in these…
See that indentation in the top part? It’s the perfect spot to add some beautiful, rose-flavored cream to it.
Either use a store-bought (all-natural) whipped cream or make your own (there is a recipe for this in my Summer Ramadan Cooking cookbook). The only addition I make to the base recipe there is that I add one capful of rose water to the mixture and wow, what an aromatic floral taste it has.
I add the cream to the middle of the cakes and then spread some flaked dried rose petals on top and on the sides.
If you add the cream when the cakes are still warm, it will melt a bit.
And if they’re chemical-free (don’t buy them unless they are), they should also be edible.
And so pretty.
I think these are such a great treat to bring to baby or wedding showers since they can be so elegant.
Mini Hazelnut Bundt Yogurt Cakes with Rose Whipped Cream
Measure all dry ingredients into a metal or glass mixing bowl. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, measure out the eggs and Mountain High Yoghurt. Using a wire whisk, mix together well. Next, add the oil and whisk again until all wet ingredients are well-blended.
To the egg-yogurt-oil mixture, add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, one cup at at ime. Then, using a whisk, blend these ingredients. Blend all ingredients until there are no lumps.
Pour mixture into oiled (not floured) mini bundt or loaf pans and bake for 35 minutes. If using a loaf pan, you may need to bake up to 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick or flat knife comes out clean from the center and the top is golden brown.
Turn cakes out of bundt pan after a few minutes of being out of the oven.
If you’ve watched my Facebook Live video series with Dr. Madiha Saeed, you’ll probably know a little bit about this recipe and why it’s appearing here- because it’s a total family favorite- and now passed on to more family and friends.
Dr. Saeed started bringing this Pumpkin Cake to me to try quite some time ago and to show me how a non-dairy, non-wheat based “sweet” or treat could be healthy and delicious and easy to make –and something I would actually enjoy making and eating regularly.
And that’s exactly what this is- believe me, you just have to try it. You really won’t believe how good this recipe is and it will change the way you think about baking. I’m actually relieved that I can go dairy-free (if you don’t use ghee) and wheat-free and still have something to drink with my coffee or tea in the morning and afternoon- regularly.
While parfaits are often seen on dessert tables, the use of pumpkin is hardly ever a staple found inside- at least not from what I’ve seen. But as I’m trying to incorporate many, many more plant-based produce into my diet I realized that the pumpkin is under-utilized as dessert option for things other than pies and rolls. I use pumpkin in soups and stews, but as a dessert it’s also something quite perfect to use if you’re looking for an alternative to super sweet desserts to serve.
That’s why I like this Pumpkin Parfait that is only sweetened with a small amount of honey and given texture with the addition of nuts and pumpkin seeds and made creamy by the addition of halal-certifiedMountain High Yoghurt.
I chose Mountain High Yoghurt because it doesn’t have any funny stuff added- just what you expect from a homemade yogurt like your mom or grandmother used to make. Unfortunately, today many commercial brands of yogurt contain additions like gelatin (which can be pork-derived) with the notion that it keeps the shape of the product. Mountain High Yoghurt has a figured out a way to keep it natural and keep it’s shape just fine, as well. No funny stuff, which is why I like it so much.
The recipe is super easy to make but you need some time to prepare because you really want to have made the pumpkin puree yourself, for best results. Get the recipe for homemade pumpkin puree here.
Use about 1/2 cup of Mountain High Yogurt per parfait (per person). Choose the best honey you can find, preferably a more runny honey and not the thick, raw kind because it doesn’t spread as easily.
You can make these in advance but not too far ahead or they might get a little runny. 1-2 hours in advance of serving is sufficient and keep them refrigerated.
[yumprint-recipe id=’119′]This post was sponsored by Mountain High Yoghurt. All opinions, recipes and photos are generated by the author.
If you don’t have these types of pans, it’s okay- use a small bread loaf pan and extend the cooking time but keep the temperature the same (as instructed below). 
As for the wet ingredients, these are where you can get really creative in terms of flavor additions. The base you must have are the eggs, oil, and 
Yes, 
This is mixed all together and then the dry ingredients are added TO the wet ingredients, cup by cup. 
These bundt pans are filled 3/4 the way up the top. 
Once they’re baked (around 35 minutes), pop them out of the pan almost immedietely without letting them cool too much or they’ll stick to the pan. 
I love the beautiful browning on the sides. 
I wish you could smell the hazelnut in these…
See that indentation in the top part? It’s the perfect spot to add some beautiful, rose-flavored cream to it.
I chose 