White Chocolate and Pistachio Baklava

Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).

Lightly grease a metal baking dish (mine measured approximately 8 x 6 inches). I used 1 calorie spray oil, but if you prefer you can use melted butter to grease the pan and throughout the recipe. Cut the filo sheets into rectangles, each one large enough to cover the dish. I ended up with 6 rectangles. Don’t use any less than this, but you can use a little extra if you like.

Gently lay one sheet of filo in the bottom of the dish, and again spritz with oil. Repeat until you have used half of your filo sheets (so I used three sheets at this stage and spritzed each one).

Break the chocolate into small squares and add it into a food processor along with the sugar. Pulse carefully until a coarse crumb is formed, then transfer to a bowl. Coarsely process the pistachios also, and add these to the bowl. Mix well.

Spread the chocolate mixture in an even layer across the filo, and top with the remaining filo sheets, again spritzing lightly with oil between layers. Top with a slightly more generous amount of oil or butter.

Cut the top layers of filo (down to the chocolate) to mark out portions. It’s easier to do this before the pastry has been cooked. Diamonds are traditional, but squares would be more practical.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it, because the filo will brown quickly so you might want to remove it from the oven before 20 minutes is up. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing fully along the lines you created earlier, and serving warm or cold. Sprinkle the top with icing sugar if desired.