Midye Baklava (Shells Baklava)
Midye Baklava is an original Turkish sweet treat, and is probably one of most beautiful shapes a baklava can have. It is shaped like shells, and originally it is made with pistachio filling and semolina cream. I have used a storebought filo dough, but its main disadvantage is that it dries and crumbles quite fast (or maybe its just the brand I bought, who knows…).
I recommend giving it some moisture with some water spray bottle, or lightly brush it with water. There is some advanced preparation to follow, and I highly recommend to work according to the steps detailed below to make the best use of your time.
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Midye Baklava (Shells Baklava):
Equipment: A single rectangular baking sheet pan, sized 30cm (w) x 30cm (l) lined with parchment paper, or two round baklava pans, 23cm (d) lined with parchment paper.
Recipe: 40 – 45 pieces
For the dough:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| A single, storebought pack of filo | About 17-18 sheets |
Nuts mixture:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Ground nuts (of your choice) | 250g |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp |
Semolina Cream:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Milk (1) | 240g |
| Semolina | 34g |
| Milk (2) | 20g |
Coating:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Unsalted Butter | 200g |
Sugar Syrup:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| White Granulated Sugar | 300g |
| Water | 236g |
| Lemon Juice | 12g |
| Rose Water | 12g |
Preparation instructions:
Semolina Cream:
- In a small saucepan, mix the semolina and together, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.
- Transfer the cream to a separate bowl until it cools down to room temperature. The mixture will thicken significantly as it cools down, and you will need to then add the additional 20g of milk (2), to restore its creamy texture.
- As soon as the cream is sufficiently cooled down, transfer it to a piping bag.
Sugar Syrup:
- In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar and water together, and cook them on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolved.
- Lower the heat to low, and cool for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Take the saucepan off the heat, and add the lemon juice.
- It is recommended to let the syrup slightly cool down before adding in the rose water, but in any case, the syrup must be fully cold when it is poured over the baklava.
Assembly and baking:
- Take 2 filo sheets together, and place them widthwise, in front of you. Using a long wooden skewer, roll the sheets on the skewer to form a log.
- Press both edges of the log with your hands, to bring the log towards the center (see video demonstration).
- Turn the skewer 90 degrees, and very gently open the sheets so now the long side is in closer to you. Lightly moisturize the sheets with a little bit of water, and make small but tight folds at the center of the filo sheets. Not that you should leave enough space of unfolded dough at the top and bottom edges of the sheets, about 4 cm, so you can close them on the filling.
- Using a teaspoon, arrange small mounds of ground nuts on top of the folds (you should be able to do 5 mounds at least each round).
- Pipe a little bit of the cream on top of the nuts, and close the baklava, first from the top part of the sheet, then the bottom part.
- Using your thumb and index finger, tighten the dough between each filled unit, and separate them using a sharp knife. It is recommended to cut off some of the excess dough at the edges of each unit.
- Arrange all pieces in the prepared pan (or pans), and bake in a preheated oven, set to 175C (fan mode on), with a baking rack placed at the lowest shelf inside the oven, for 40 minutes. Ensure full baking and that the baklava has beautifully browned.
- Pour the cold sugar syrup on the baklava as soon as it comes out of the oven. You may garnish with ground pistachios.
