This satisfies Tom’s new habit of eating sweets without increasing sodium intake. But when I made these baklava earlier last year, he blamed me for him gaining weight, as I repeatedly experimented to figure out a good proportion of ingredients, especially erythritol (calorie- & net-carbs-free sugar substitute) so it does not re-crystallize when completely cool and does not trigger any noticeable cooling sensation in the mouth.

My original thought was, if I made 28 small pieces in one batch, they should last for 28 days or at least a few weeks. Making baklava from scratch is time consuming, but it would be not bad if each batch lasted that long … So far I have been proven ridiculously wrong. Tom cannot stop reaching for more pieces. Although the recipe below is not heavily sweet, as with other sweets I make, it could be addictive. 

Whole recipe:
2,396 calories; 37.5 g protein; 175.1 g fat; 225.9 g carbohydrate; 165.9 g net carbs; 44 mg sodium; 158 mg cholesterol; 15.3 g fiber


1 piece (1/28 recipe):
86 calories; 1.3 g protein; 6.3 g fat; 8.1 g carbohydrate; 5.9 g net carbs; 1.6 mg sodium; 6 mg cholesterol; 0.5 g fiber

<Ingredients>

(for 20 cm/8″ square mold)


For phyllo dough

130 g all purpose flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp vinegar
65 g milk

(Starch mixture to keep phyllo sheets separated)
50 g potato (or tapioca) starch
10 g all purpose flour

For nut filling and topping, ghee, and syrup

(Nut filling and topping and ghee)
140 g walnuts (for filling)
15 g pistachio (for topping; optional; not in photo)
70 g ghee clarified butter

(Syrup)
100 g (100 cc) water
45 g granulated sugar
15 g honey
10 g agave syrup
40 g granulated erythritol
14 drops liquid stevia
1/2 tbsp rose water

Olive oil (to grease mold, not in photo)