Vegan Baklava – Connoisseur Veg

This vegan baklava is made with layers of flaky filo pastry with a sweet almond filling. Top it off with spiced syrup and an optional chocolate drizzle for a decadent treat you’ll absolutely love!

Baklava is one of those amazing desserts that I never thought I would make in my own kitchen. It’s always been a treat reserved for restaurant dinners, because homemade baklava is so hard to make, right? I mean, all those levels!

It’s not that hard. This vegan baklava recipe takes a little time and patience. But the actual process involved in making it is quite simple, and baklava requires surprisingly few ingredients!

I had to swap out a few ingredients to veganize the traditional baklava, but you’d never know it by the taste. This ingredient is absolutely delicious and completely decadent.

Jump:

Ingredients you will need

• Water.
• Sugar. We are using organic sugar to keep the recipe vegan. Organic sugar is processed without animal bone char and tastes just like regular sugar. Easy swap!
• Maple syrup. We’re using it instead of the honey you’d find in traditional baklava. You can also use agave nectar or another substitute for honey, but I actually like the subtle flavor that maple syrup adds.
• cinnamon We’ll use ground cinnamon for the filling and a cinnamon stick to flavor the syrup. You can leave out the stick or replace it with a pinch of cinnamon if you don’t normally keep cinnamon sticks on hand.
• I am happy today. Same deal with cinnamon! If you don’t buy whole cloves, use a pinch of cloves in the syrup.
• Lemon juice.
• nuts The recipe calls for a mixture of walnuts and hazelnuts, and I absolutely love my vegan baklava with this particular filling mixture, but it’s certainly not critical to the recipe. If you prefer, you can use all walnuts or all hazelnuts, or replace some or all of the nuts with pistachios or pecans. Any combination you choose will be delicious!
• Salt.
• Frozen filo pastry. Most filo dough is vegetarian, believe it or not! But always check the ingredients list to be safe.
• Vegan butter. It is usually sold next to regular butter in supermarkets. Look for brands like Earth Balance, Melt and Miyoko
• Vegan Chocolate Chips. These are completely optional. Buy them into you like sprinkles on your baklava chocolate. Enjoy Life brand chips are vegetarian.

How is it made?

Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. If you want to skip the recipe, scroll all the way down!

Make sure to thaw your phyllo before starting. This will require some advanced planning. Refer to the package instructions for the best thawing method.

• Make the syrup first, because you need it to cool when the baklava comes out of the oven.
• Stir the water and sugar together in a saucepan, then add the maple syrup, a cinnamon stick and whole cloves. Put it on medium flame and let it cook on low flame for 10 minutes, stirring it from time to time.
• Remove the pot from the heat, remove the cinnamon stick and cloves and stir in the lemon juice.

Tip: The syrup will thicken slightly as it cools, but by the time you’re ready to use it, it’ll be on the runny side — a bit thinner than straight maple syrup.

• While the syrup is simmering make the filling. Combine almonds, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a food processor bowl. Finely chop the almonds and pulse in the machine until the ingredients are well mixed.

Suggestion: Don’t have a food processor? All good! Finely chop the almonds by hand, then stir in the sugar, spices and salt.

• Cut your stack of thawed phyllo sheets in half so they fit neatly into a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. My package included 18 phyllo sheets, so I ended up with 36 half sheets to work with, although these numbers can vary by brand.
• Begin assembling your vegan baklava, alternating layers of melted vegan butter with phyllo sheets.
• Spread a layer of the nut mixture (use about a third of it) about a quarter of the way down your phyllo sheets. Continue layering the filling and phyllo evenly until you’ve used both, ending with the phyllo layer topped with melted vegan butter.

Tip: Place your stack of unused phyllo sheets under a damp kitchen towel, remove the towel to catch one sheet at a time, and replace it when you arrange the sheet on the baking pan. This will prevent the pastry from drying out, which can happen quickly because it’s so thin!

• Once your vegan baklava is assembled, cut it using a sharp knife Before baking.

Suggestion: I cut my baklava into thirty-two small triangles, but you can cut it into larger pieces if you like, and they don’t have to be triangles. Rectangles work, like diamonds can be made vertically, then diagonally (similar to what is shown above, without the horizontal cut).

• Pop the baking dish in the oven and bake your vegan baklava until the top is golden brown and crispy.
• Drizzle the baklava with your syrup as soon as it comes out of the oven. It should sizzle when it pierces the baklava and then hits the hot baking pan.

Suggestion: You want your syrup to cool completely before it starts to drizzle. Check the baklava when it has about five minutes to go in the oven. While it’s still hot, place the pan in an ice bath to cool it quickly.

• Remove the slices from the pan and allow your baklava to cool completely before serving. Optionally, drizzle each slice with some melted chocolate and garnish with additional chopped nuts.

Remaining and storage

Leftover vegan baklava will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days, refrigerated for about 2 weeks, or refrigerated for about 3 months.

Your baklava will get soggy as it sits. I’ve found that the upper part can be somewhat restored by placing individual slices under the broiler. Obviously, just make sure you don’t drip your baklava in chocolate!

More vegan dessert recipes

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