Given the cook-at-home nature of Spinneys and natural variations in ingredients, nutritional information is approximated."

Chocolate chilli baklava

Arabic 30 Mins Prep · 50 Mins Cook

For the syrup, combine the water, honey, sugar, cocoa nibs, 2 cinnamon sticks, dried chilli and toasted almonds in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Strain (keep the cocoa nibs aside). You should have 625ml of syrup.
Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.
To make the filling, place the toasted almonds in a food processor and blitz until the texture resembles rough breadcrumbs. Set aside.
Process 350g of coarsely chopped, 70% dark chocolate to the same size pieces and add to the nuts along with the reserved cocoa nibs and spices.
Grease a 25cm x 35cm baking tin with some of the ghee. Place one sheet of filo in the tin and brush with the ghee. Repeat until you have 8 sheets of filo. Spread 200g of the filling over the filo then top with 4 sheets of filo brushed with ghee on each layer.
Spread another 200g of the filling over and another 4 layers of the ghee-brushed filo.
Spread the remaining filling on top and top with 10 sheets of filo for the final layer. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until the ghee sets.
Use a ruler to cut the baklava into diamonds then bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C, gas mark 2, and bake for another 25-30 minutes until it turns golden brown. Remove from the oven and spoon over the syrup.
Allow to cool completely before serving.