by Meliz Cooks
Sütlü Börek Recipe
A festive and fruity Sütlü Börek by AEG partner Meliz Cooks. The perfect sweet treat this season, paired with a coffee.
Ingredients
For the filling
- 100g sultanas / raisins (or a mix of both), soaked in 500ml boiling hot water for 10 minutes (see notes)
- Zest of 1 Orange
- 750ml milk
- 75g semolina
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp orange blossom / rose water
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
- 25g cornflour
- 75g walnuts, roughly chopped
For the syrup
- 400ml of the drained hot water from the soaked fruit (*see notes in method)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 350ml caster sugar
- 3 tbsp clear honey
- 1 1/2 tsp orange blossom / water (optional)
- 1 tbsp fresh orange juice
For the börek
- 150g butter, melted, solids removed
- 12 filo pastry sheets
Method
- Add the dried fruit to jug of 500ml boiling hot water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Drain the fruit, and pop them into a small bowl with the orange zest.
*You should have around 400ml hot water left in the jug (if you have more / less, reduce / add more boiling hot water according to 400ml). Strain the water through a sieve into a small pan. - To make the syrup, add all of the remaining syrup ingredients, apart from the orange juice, to the pan of water. Bring up to the boil over a medium-high heat, then turn down to a medium heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the syrup has thickened and reduced down by about one quarter. Add the orange juice and remove from the heat to cool.
- To make the custard, add the milk to a medium-sized pan and place over a medium heat. When the milk is warm, add the semolina, cornflour, sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and mixed spice to the warmed milk and whisk continuously until the mixture starts to thicken. Once it starts to bubble, remove from the heat and stir through the orange blossom / rose water. (It doesn't need to boil and bubble, but it does need to thicken.)
- Pour the custard into a large shallow dish (to help it cool quickly) and stir through the soaked fruit, orange zest and walnuts.
- Melt the butter in a small pan, then clarify it but removing as much of the foamy milk solids as possible.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°C/gas mark 5.
Method Continued
7. Brush a large baking tray with a little of the melted butter. (You need a large baking tray with a completely flat bottom so that the syrup soaks straight into the cooked Sütlü Börek and does not disappear into any ridges when poured in.)
8. Take one sheet of filo, brush all over with some of the melted butter, then fold it in half lengthways so you have a thinner, double layered strip of filo. Place a generous dessert-spoon sized dollop of the cooled filling at one end of the buttered filo strip, and start to fold over the filo in 90° triangular folds (as if you were making a samosa) until you have a complete triangle-shaped parcel. Be careful not to fold the parcels up too tightly otherwise they could burst and split open while cooking (although, I rather like the ones that have a little of the filling spilling out the sides).
9. Place the assembled Sütlü Börek on the deep baking tray. Repeat the process with the remaining sheets of filo and custard.
10. Once all the Sütlü Börek have been assembled, place the baking tray on the middle shelf of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown. I usually leave mine in for a full 25 minutes, but keep your eye on them as all oven temperatures vary - and the longer you leave them, the more susceptible they are to burst.
11. Remove the baking tray from the oven, then immediately pour over the cooled syrup so that it sizzles vigorously. You can also sprinkle either ground walnuts, almonds or pistachios on to each Sütlü Börek at this point.
12. Allow the pastry parcels to cool for at least 4-6 hours, preferably overnight, on the baking tray before serving, so that the pastry really has time to soak up all those beautiful syrupy flavours.
13. These are just as delicious the next day, or up to three days after (stored in the fridge), especially with a hot cup of coffee.
