Classic Baklava Recipe
This classic homemade baklava recipe is absolutely delicious! Baklava is a traditional Mediterranean dessert made with a balanced blend of walnuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios with honey soaked phyllo pastry baked to perfection!
Ingredients
- 8 oz walnuts roughly chopped
- 8 oz hazelnuts roughly chopped
- 8 oz pistachios roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 2 sticks salted butter melted
- 1 16oz pack of phyllo dough thawed
Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup honey
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 6 cloves
- lemon juice from one whole lemon
Method
- First, preheat your oven to 350F.
- While the oven preheats, prepare the honey syrup. In a large saucepan, combine the water and sugar on medium-heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the honey, orange extract, cloves and stir. Bring this mixture to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes. Allow the syrup to cool before adding in the lemon juice and removing the cloves.
- Next, make the nut mixture. In a food processor, add the chopped walnuts, pistachios, and hazelnuts. Pulse a few times until they become slightly minced and then transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves to the bowl with your nut mixture and thoroughly combine.
- Assemble the baklava. Make sure to prepare a 9x13x2 baking pan with a nonstick spray or brushing with melted butter. Place a sheet of phyllo dough in the baking dish. You can either fold the sheet in half or trim to size with kitchen shears. Brush the sheet with melted butter. Repeat this process until you have used about 1/3 of the pastry sheets. Make sure each sheet has been individually brushed with the melted butter.
- Once you have completed your phyllo layers, distribute an even layer of the nut mixture on top. Use another 1/3 of the phyllo dough, brushing each sheet with melted butter. Spread the remaining ½ of the nut mixture on top. Finish the baklava with the final 1/3 of phyllo pastry using the same method of brushing each individual sheet with melted butter.
- Before baking, make sure to the cut the baklava into individual pieces. Take a sharp knife and cut the pastry into either 24 or 36 diamond-shaped pieces. Once the pastry is cut, bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes, depending on the strength of your oven. Remove the pastry when the baklava reaches a golden color and a skewer comes out clean. Immediately pour the cooled syrup over the baklava when it is removed from the oven. Allow the baklava to cool completely before serving. Garnish with additional chopped pistachios.
Nutrition
Calories478kcalCarbohydrates39gProtein7gFat36gSaturated Fat10gPolyunsaturated Fat10gMonounsaturated Fat14gTrans Fat1gCholesterol30mgSodium104mgPotassium324mgFiber4gSugar32gVitamin A420IUVitamin C2mgCalcium59mgIron2mg