Ingredients:
- 1 lb thin fillo dough, I use Apollo #4
- 29 oz sour cherries, I use this 2 pack
- 2 Tbsp semolina flour, don’t use regular flour
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
Filling:
- 3 eggs
- 8 oz sugar
- 8 oz Greek yogurt or kefir
- 8 oz vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
Simple syrup:
- 24 oz sugar
- 16 oz water
Instructions:
- Drain the cherries from the can and chop them so they look like this
- Put the cherries back in a bowl, wait for 5-10 mins and drain them again
- Add 2 Tbsp semolina flour and mix.
- In another bowl, mix the ingredients for the filling, eggs, sugar, Greek yogurt or kefir, vegetable oil and baking powder. Mix well until consistent.
- Get a baking pan and add 3-4 Tbsp oil at the bottom, grease it well, don’t forget the sides too. Drain the excess oil if needed.
- Add two (2) sheets, then add 5-6 Tbsp of the filling. If your pan is smaller than 12×17 (fillo sheet size), just fold the sheet. Rotate the pan 180 degrees, so next time you fold the sheet, the folding part is on the opposite side.
- Spread the filling so it covers the whole sheet.
- The package contains about 28 sheets, so once you are half way through – stop. Add the 13th and 14th sheets, then add the sour cherries and spread.
- Then again, add 2 sheets, spread the filling.
- When you have two more sheets left, stop. Add the remaining of the filling, spread and cover with the last two sheets.
- Cut the baklava in squares or diamonds.
- Melt one (1) stick of butter and spread evenly on top.
- Pre-heat oven on 300F (150C) and bake for 40 mins to an hour. Check after 30 mins and you’ll see when it’s ready.
- Once baklava is removed from the oven, wait for 15-20 mins, don’t just pour the syrup immediately.
- While waiting 15-20 mins, make the simple syrup with sugar and water. Boil and mix until you see a lot of bubbles. Boil for another min.
- Let the syrup cool for 10-15 mins and pour over the baklava. Leave it at room temperature for at least 8 hrs, better overnight.
- Store baklava at room temperature for a week. After that freeze.
