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Dessert

Albanian Baklava

A layered pastry made with rolled dough, walnuts, cinnamon, butter, and a sugar syrup.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Walnut and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,147 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Albanian Baklava

Ovenhot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble

  1. Spread the rolled dough.

  2. Sprinkle the walnuts with cinnamon.

  3. Cover with another layer of dough.

  4. Cut the baklava into equal squares or diamond shapes.

  5. Cover the baklava with melted butter and bake in a hot oven.

Make the syrup

  1. Prepare the syrup with water and sugar.

  2. Let the syrup boil for 5 minutes.

  3. Add the juice of half a lemon before removing the syrup from the heat.

  4. Let the syrup cool for about 5 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Let the baklava cool.

  2. Spread the syrup on the baklava.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

81Calories
1 gProtein
3 gFat
15 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Walnut + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rolled dough
Forms thin, flaky layers that crisp and brown in the oven.
Walnuts
Provide the nut filling and add body and a rich, toasty flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps it thicken as it boils.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat that helps the layers crisp and brown.

The step that matters

Spread the syrup on the baklava. The syrup should be cooled slightly before it is spread, so the hot pastry absorbs it evenly without turning soggy. Pouring hot syrup onto hot pastry can make it soft instead of crisp.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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