Sutlu Nuriye; lighter baklava with hazelnuts in milky syrup
Sutlu Nuriye is a delicious Turkish dessert; similar to baklava but lighter with its milk based syrup. Crushed hazelnuts are used in the filling here and works wonderfully with the milky syrup, which gives Sutlu Nuriye a whitish look. Sutlu Nuriye is lighter, creamer than baklava and really easy to make at home, using filo pastry sheets. They have been a huge hit with the children, as well as adults in our home, great for entertaining.
Pour in the luke warm milky syrup over cooled cooked filo pastry and let the pastry to soak the milky syrup for 35- 40 minutes.
Sutlu Nuriye believed to be created due to the supply shortage in 1980s. Rather than the expensive pistachios, a baklava producer used hazelnuts and flavored with milk for lighter syrup. The result has been today’s popular Sutlu Nuriye, a delicious, lighter version of the regular baklava.
Light, melt-in-the mouth Sutlu Nuriye, a variation of baklava in milky syrup.
You can prepare Sutlu Nuriye a day ahead of time and keep it in a cool place; always serve at room temperature. I hope you enjoy this soft, light, melt-in-the mouth Sutlu Nuriye, a variation of baklava in milky syrup. Turkish coffee or Turkish tea, cay aside complements Sutlu Nuriye very well.
My very best wishes to you all for the festive season. Many thanks for your company, recreating my Turkish recipes at your homes, your kind share and comments, I greatly appreciate it. It’s been a pleasure enjoying Turkish cuisine with you all and I look forward to sharing many more recipes in the New Year. I wish you all a happy, healthy new year in good company and delicious food.
Afiyet Olsun,
Ozlem
- 270 gr x 2 packs of filo pastry sheets (12 filo sheets in total; each sheet 480 mm x 255 mm each)
- 200 gr/4 oz. /a little less than 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 340 gr/ 12 oz. chopped/crushed hazelnuts
- For the syrup:
- 16 fl. oz. / 2 cups water
- 12 fl oz. / 1 ½ cup whole milk
- 270 gr/ 1⅓ cup sugar
- Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350 F
- Take out the fresh filo pastry sheets from the fridge and bring to room temperature 20 minutes prior using. To thaw frozen filo sheets, it is best to place them in the fridge the night before or bring it to room temperature 2 hours before using.
- Grease the baking dish with the melted butter.
- Place two filo pastry sheets to the baking dish (trim the sheets at the edges if necessary to fit into your baking dish) and brush with the melted butter.
- Place 2 more filo pastry sheets and brush with the melted butter. Place another two sheets over them and brush with melted butter.
- Crush the hazelnuts in a food processor, carefully pulsing a just few times or chop by hand (take care for the hazelnuts not go too small pieces or fine).
- Spread the chopped hazelnuts evenly on the 6th sheet of buttered filo pastry.
- Lay two more sheets of filo pastry and brush with melted butter. Repeat this 2 more times, buttering every two sheets, until you reach 12th sheet.
- Brush the 12th sheet of filo pastry with butter and ease the sheets into the corners and trim the edges if necessary.
- Then using a sharp knife, cut right through all the layers to form small square pieces. It should make about 30 pieces in total.
- Bake the pastry in the preheated oven (180 C/ 350 F) for 25 minutes, until golden at top.
- While the pastry is baking, prepare your syrup.
- Put the sugar into a heavy pan, pour in water and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Once the sugar is dissolved, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Pour in the milk to the pan, give a good stir to the syrup and turn the heat off. Leave the pan aside to cool down; the syrup needs to be luke warm to pour over cooked filo pastry.
- Once the filo pastry is cooked and golden at top, take out of the oven and leave it aside to cool down for 15 minutes.
- Slowly pour in the luke warm milky syrup over cooled cooked filo pastry and let the pastry to soak the milky syrup for 35- 40 minutes.
- Once milky syrup is absorbed by the pastry, take out the Sutlu Nuriye squares and serve at room temperature.
- You can prepare Sutlu Nuriye a day ahead of time and keep in a cool place, covered.
Hello.. Love your recipes how long will I be Abel to store this for xx
Merhaba Vicky, thank you very much ! you can keep Sutlu Nuriye in a cool place for a couple of days. It also freezes well. You can reheat at 180 C/ 350 F for 15 – 20 minutes, afiyet olsun!
This is a great version of baklava, Ozlem. And I love the idea of soaking the pastry in warm milk syrup…what amazing flavor. Lovely to see your picture, happy holidays to you all. XxPeri.
Many thanks dear Peri; a lovely, lighter version of baklava, we loved the milky syrup too and hazelnuts in the filling. Our best wishes to you and your lovely family for the festive season, in peace, good food and happiness, Ozlem xx
Özlem’ciğim, I really love this recipe. You know, I’m too nervous to make baklava but this seems so easy and the recipe is so user-friendly, I think that even I could do it. Just one question. If I use yufka, do I use half the amount of layers?
To you and your family, a very happy holiday season. Thanks for giving us so many wonderful recipes for dishes to wow our families and guests. Iyi seneler, ailene selam söyle, çok öpüyoruz, sevgilerimizle, Jolee ve Mark
Merhabalar Sevgili Jolee, thank you so much for this very kind note : ) Re Sutlu Nuriye, I would still use 12 layers in total (perhaps a few more as yufka sheets are softer and thinner, in total 14 or 16 sheets would also work well). You can also buy baklava yufka sheets in Turkey for this, which would be lovely. Hope you can give it a go, it really is easy and I hope it brings smiles : ) Our very best wishes to you both too, it’s been a pleasure sharing recipes and I am very grateful your kind support, really means so much to me. Cok Selam ve Sevgilerimizle, Ozlem xx
This is a new one on me but that lighter result sounds very appealing. Very best wishes for the festive season.
Thanks Phil, it’s a delightful, lighter version of baklava, hope you enjoy it – my very best wishes to you too for the festive season, Ozlem
Do you think I could add some sneaky mincemeat to this to give it a Christmas edge?
Fantastic idea BB, I think it would work wonderfully – can’t wait to hear all about it, could you let me know? best wishes to you and family, sevgilerimle, Ozlem x
The milky syrup is a great idea! It adds another dimension to the delicious baklava.
Thank you Joumana, it really does – and lighter, which is very welcoming!
hey Ozlem, never heard of this version of baklava and it sure looks very interesting, thank you for sharing it. i wonder though, is it possible to replace the milky syrup with condensed milk diluted with more milk/water,
Merhaba Nitzan, thank you for your kind note; it is a delicious version and lighter than baklava. I haven’t used condensed milk here as a syrup, well worth trying and experimenting, not sure how sweet it is and you can adjust the sugar level to your taste – look forward to hearing how it works out for you, if you don’t mind sharing, afiyet olsun!
Hi Nitzan,
I first had sutlu nuriye at a Turkish friends home. I remember thinking the sherbet (soaking liquid) was made of sweetened condensed milk, or at least had some! But when I search for recipes, all that turns up is the use milk and sugar or milk, water and sugar to soak the baklava. I want my my soaking liquid to slightly thick like my friend’s version… I will attempt with some sweetened condensed milk.. Have you tried this yet?
Merhaba Joan, thank you for stopping by – I haven’t tried condensed milk in this recipe, it is quite a rich taste for me but well worth trying if you like, you can always dilute it with a bit of milk if you needed to, hope you enjoy it, Ozlem
This recipe didn’t work for me. I’m not sure what the problem is, but my dough was still mostly raw after 30 minutes. Could it be that filo dough in the states is thicker?
Hi Taylor, thank you for your note – yes, filo sheets differ; the ones in the US tend to me in freezer, hence can get drier and sometimes thicker; you may need to bake another 5-10 minutes depending on your oven. I hope this helps, thank you for giving it a go.