Bird's Nest Baklawa

150 grams kadaif noodles

80-100 grams butter (3/8-1/2 cup)

Syrup:

3 cups sugar, or 2 cups sugar and 1 cup honey

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons light corn syrup (optional)

2 (3-inch) sticks cinnamon (optional)

4 to 6 whole cloves, or 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

For the stuffing:

20 grams pistachios (or other nuts) — 3 pistachios per cookie, plus some ground nuts for sprinkling

Let your kadaif noodles thaw in the bag for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius (300 Fahrenheit). Melt the butter (I microwaved it for a minute).

To form the nests: Take a chunk of noodles, lay them out in a long strip, and brush generously with butter. Twist the strip a few times in order to make a loose rope, and then wind the rope into a coil. This should give you a round nest. Press in the sides to make a round shape, and poke your finger gently into the top to make sure there’s a hollow. Put the round shape into baking mini tin and place it on your baking tray.

Repeat with the rest of the dough, to form 16 nests. You may not need all the butter (I brushed the rest on top of my little round and baking mini tin)

Put the nests in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden, but don’t let them become dark brown or burn. Some of the noodles inside the nests may still be white when you’re done baking.

While the nests are baking, make the syrup: Put everything in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes, too, or until the liquid has a thick, syrupy consistency.

Set aside three pistachios for each nest (a total of 48) and crush the rest. I would have used my food proccesor.

Once the nests are out of the oven, sprinkle a small bit of ground pistachio into each nest and then press in three pistachios (or chopped nuts of your choice). Drizzle with syrup — I used about 1/3-1/2 tablespoon for each nest, because I didn’t want them to be too sweet, and had some syrup left over. (You could use more syrup if you want, though — to taste).