It’s that time of year when I get to bake. This year I discovered a local deli that stocks shredded fillo pastry or Kataifi.

I used to watch Mum work with this but it wasn’t until this week that I tried working with this myself. Being brave with such a delicate pastry has its rewards.

Filling:
1/2 cup almonds. I used dry roasted almonds.
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method:
Put these into a blender, crushing them until they are course. Don’t let them before powder unless that’s your preference. I prefer the crunch value in the centre.

Syrup:
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
Thin strip of lemon
Small piece of cinnamon bark

Method:
Place these into a small saucepan and slow heat the water until the sugar is dissolved. Then let it gently bubble for 5 minutes and put aside to cool.

Pastry construction guide:
You buy a pack of premade Kataifi. 
It comes in a firm roll so you have to unroll the strands until they can be worked with your hands.

From here on in it’s up to you as to how much filling you want and how big you want each roll to be. Use melted unsalted butter on the pastry as you work with it as you would when flat fillo pastry.

The key here is to butt each roll next to each other and have the ends on the under side when you place these into the baking tray. I use alfoil trays because these are usually gifts.

Use lots of unsalted butter over the top of the pastry so they brown nicely as they cook.

Once these are as brown as you like them, take them out of the oven and pour cold syrup over the hot pastry. I like to keep the pastry crunch so I don’t drown them in syrup.

Then allow these to cool fully before you pack them into the fridge.

Serve with coffee amongst friends.