Christmas Baclava

Ingredients:

200g dried fruits (currants, sultanas, raisins)
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp mixed spice
175ml Marsala wine
125g honey
1 ripe pear
100g chopped walnuts
75g best butter, melted
270g pack of filo pastry
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

• Put dried fruit, cinnamon, mixed spice, Marsala and 50g of the honey in a pan and bring to the boil, then cover and cook gently for 5 minutes
• Tip into a bowl, cover and leave overnight.
• Preheat oven to 170°C (Gas Mark 3)
• Strain the mixture through a sieve, reserve the juices and place the fruits in a bowl. Add the peeled and grated pear, and walnuts and mix well
• Grease a 28x18cm shallow ovenproof tin with butter, and lay one sheet of filo pastry in the tin, folding edges in to fit, then brush with melted butter
• Layer ½ the pack of sheets in this manner, making sure the folds don’t overlap one another and cause unevenness
• Tip the fruit mixture over the pastry and spread evenly
• Cover with remaining layers of filo, in the same manner as the base layer
• Using a sharp knife, cut into 24 squares
• Bake in oven for 45minutes or until crisp and golden.