Baklava is normally made with walnuts, but here I've used pecans and made it into a round that can be cut into wedges and served for dessert.

Ingredients

• 280 grams pecans
• 70 grams ground almonds
• ¼ cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• grated rind of two lemons
• 375 gram packet filo pastry
• 175 grams butter, melted
• Syrup
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup water
• juice of two lemons
• ¼ cup honey

Method

1. Put the pecans, almonds, caster sugar, cardamom and lemon rind into a food processor and process until the pecans are ground. Set aside.
2. Working quickly, brush one sheet of filo with butter and top with a second. Continue until you have buttered 12 sheets. Cut into a 29-30cm circle (it will just fit) and place into the base of a well-greased 28cm round loose-bottomed cake tin. Top with half the nuts.
3. Layer two more buttered sheets of filo on top and cover with the remaining nuts.
4. Brush a further 12 filo sheets with butter as before, cut into a circle just frationally bigger than the first and place on top of the nuts. Butter the top well, pressing down firmly. Trim the top sheets after they're in the tin by running a knife around the edge. Cut into 12 or 16 wedges.
5. Bake at 160ºC for about an hour until the filo is golden and well cooked.
6. Spoon the hot syrup slowly over the baklava (it won't seep out the join in the tin). Leave until cold. Mark wedges again. Serve with whipped cream and coffee.
7. Syrup
8. Put all the ingredinets into a saucepan and stir over a moderate heat until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for two minutes.

Cooks Tips

- Cook filo pastry slowly and thoroughly to ensure a wonderful well cooked crisp pastry.