Flaky, crispy layers of phyllo dough packed with the best nut blend, all drizzled with a sweet honey syrup makes for the best Baklava Recipe!
If you’re looking for a Baklava Recipe to try out, this one’s for you. It’s easier than it looks and you’ll end up with the perfect holiday dessert!
Made with layers of flaky, tender phyllo dough and jam packed with the perfect nut blend and tasty sweet syrup, each bite of this treat is pure heaven.
I’ve been making Baklava for years and I always tend to make more during the holidays because I know so many people will want some. I like making it for gatherings, parties, and it always flies off the table at bake sales.
This is one dessert that always get people curious because a lot have never tried it before, but once you do, you are most likely to fall in love and want more and more.
The texture is super fun, crispy, crunchy and moist all at the same time. Drizzle on the honey syrup and let that bad boy soak it up and you have an amazing recipe.
If you want to try this out, or have never had a Baklava Recipe before, then you absolutely have to give this a go. I promise you won’t regret it.
Some of our other favorite holiday dessert recipes we have on our site include: Pecan Logs, Turtle Candy and Sticky Toffee Pudding.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Flaky, crispy layers of dough that’s bursting with flavor.
- Perfect for the holidays.
- Makes a large batch to serve everyone!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM):
Water
Granulated sugar
Honey
Lemon
Cinnamon stick
Whole cloves
Vanilla extract
Nuts
Ground cinnamon
Phyllo dough
Salted butter
HOW TO MAKE BAKLAVA, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To make the syrup add the water, sugar, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, and cloves to a small saucepan.
- Place the saucepan on medium-low heat and continually whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Bring the mixture to a simmer then place on low heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- To assemble the baklava, place the nuts into a food processor until they are finely chopped.
- Place the chopped nuts and cinnamon in a large bowl and stir until everything is combined.
- Unroll the phyllo dough and place a damp kitchen towel over the top, this helps ensure the sheets won’t dry out.
- Next, brush a 9×13-inch baking dish with some of the melted butter.
- Fold one sheet of the phyllo dough in half and place it into the prepared baking dish. Brush the top sheet with butter.
- Place 7 more sheets of phyllo dough also folded in half into the baking dish, and brush each sheet with more butter with every layer. You may need to stagger the pieces, so they cover the baking dish.
- Add a heaping ½ cup of the nut mixture evenly on top of the phyllo dough. Continue layering 7 sheets of phyllo dough (brushing each with butter) and ½ cup nuts until you have used up all of the phyllo dough and nut mixture, you will end with a layer of phyllo on the top and then brush the top generously with more butter.
- With a knife, score through all the layers to make a diamond shape pattern. To do this, make 3 parallel lines down the length of the baking dish, followed by diagonal lines to make the diamond shapes..
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 32-37 minutes until the top is golden brown.
- Immediately spoon the syrup mixture all over top and sides of the hot baklava.
- Let the baking dish sit at room temperature, uncovered for 4-6 hours or overnight, this will ensure it is nice and crisp. With a knife, slice down the scored lines again cutting into pieces, top with more nuts if desired and serve immediately.
HOW FINELY SHOULD I CHOP MY NUTS?
You want them to be pretty finely chopped but not a powder otherwise they will essentially “melt”. You do not want them too large either, you can reference the in process photo above on how finely we have ours chopped.
This helps when cutting the Baklava, it makes it easier to score through everything without ripping the dough apart.
Also if you do not have a food processor you can chop these by hand, but it might take some time, you can use a knife or even try pounding with a rolling pin or the flat end of a meat tenderizer.
HOW LONG DOES THIS NEED TO SET UP?
Once you’re doing baking the Baklava recipe in the oven, it needs to sit at room temperature so it can crisp up nicely and all the flavors can really meld together.
If you are short on time, it can sit for 4-6 hours, otherwise, it is best to let it sit overnight if possible.
DO I HAVE TO MAKE A DIAMOND SHAPE PATTERN?
While this is the traditional way of cutting Baklava, it can get confusing and you can lose track of cuts. This can also just be cut into squares if you desire.
DO I NEED TO KEEP THIS UNCOVERED?
Yes! Make sure that while it is cooling it is kept uncovered, this is a way to ensure that it gets and stays crispy. If you were to cover it the moisture would build up and get soggy.
HOW TO STORE:
For best results, you can cover these and store them at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Get an additional week out of your Baklava by storing it in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
But keep it mind that if you choose to store it in the refrigerator, it may become chewy instead of crispy texture that you want.
This can be frozen, but it may lose some of it’s texture when doing so. To freeze, cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and then foil, or place in an airtight container, it should keep for up to 3 months.
Defrost at room temperature until thawed and then serve.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- You can refrigerate and freeze these for later, see tips above.
- It’s normal if you end up with a little extra melted butter once you’ve assembled the Baklava.
- Want to change the nuts up, you sure can, use more or less of any nut that we have listed in the recipe or a mixture of any nutes you like ensuring that you have one pound.
- This needs to set up for a few hours before you can eat it, its best left overnight.
- You can add other toppings if desired, we like to top with more nuts but you can use cinnamon, nutmeg, more honey or even some melted chocolate.
- You can cut these into squares instead of diamonds if you want to make it a little easier.
Ready to finally try making your own Baklava? Then, look no further this Baklava Recipe was made for you and is super easy to follow!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried this BAKLAVA RECIPE or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Baklava Recipe
Ingredients
For the syrup:
- 1 cup water
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup honey
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 whole cloves
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the baklava:
- 16 ounces nuts finely chopped (we used a mixture of almonds, walnuts and pistachios)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 16 ounces phyllo dough thawed
- 1 ¼ cups salted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To make the syrup add the water, sugar, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, and cloves to a small saucepan.
- Place the saucepan on medium-low heat and continually whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Bring the mixture to a simmer then place on low heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- To assemble the baklava, place the nuts into a food processor until they are finely chopped.
- Place the chopped nuts and cinnamon in a large bowl and stir until everything is combined.
- Unroll the phyllo dough and place a damp kitchen towel over the top, this helps ensure the sheets won't dry out.
- Next, brush a 9x13-inch baking dish with some of the melted butter.
- Fold one sheet of the phyllo dough in half and place it into the prepared baking dish. Brush the top sheet with butter.
- Place 7 more sheets of phyllo dough also folded in half into the baking dish, and brush each sheet with more butter with every layer. You may need to stagger the pieces, so they cover the baking dish.
- Add a heaping ½ cup of the nut mixture evenly on top of the phyllo dough. Continue layering 7 sheets of phyllo dough (brushing each with butter) and ½ cup nuts until you have used up all of the phyllo dough and nut mixture, you will end with a layer of phyllo on the top and then brush the top generously with more butter.
- With a knife, score through all the layers to make a diamond shape pattern. To do this, make 3 parallel lines down the length of the baking dish, followed by diagonal lines to make the diamond shapes..
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 32-37 minutes until the top is golden brown.
- Immediately spoon the syrup mixture all over top and sides of the hot baklava.
- Let the baking dish sit at room temperature, uncovered for 4-6 hours or overnight, this will ensure it is nice and crisp. With a knife, slice down the scored lines again cutting into pieces, top with more nuts if desired and serve immediately.
Notes
- You can refrigerate and freeze these for later, see tips above.
- It's normal if you end up with a little extra melted butter once you've assembled the Baklava.
- Want to change the nuts up, you sure can, use more or less of any nut that we have listed in the recipe or a mixture of any nutes you like ensuring that you have one pound.
- This needs to set up for a few hours before you can eat it, its best left overnight.
- You can add other toppings if desired, we like to top with more nuts but you can use cinnamon, nutmeg, more honey or even some melted chocolate.
- You can cut these into squares instead of diamonds if you want to make it a little easier.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Tara
My husband really enjoyed this. I used earth balance dairy free butter as he is allergic to all dairy. Turned out great!! Only thing I’d do different is grind up nuts separately then mix together as the difference in consistency of them made it hard not to have large chunks of almonds. I used pecans almonds and pistachios.
sharyn
I so enjoy all your recipes, especially desserts..I am looking for a banana cream pie cake. I would like the banana cream to be a sturdy custard so when the cake is cut, it is clean cut nothing wobbly or runny.on the plate. Do you have a recipe for this? thank you and happy Christmas to you and yours
Tornadough Alli
I don’t have one with custard but I have this one: https://tornadoughalli.com/banana-cream-cake/ it is really good and you make dam with the frosting so the pudding in the center stays put. Maybe this will work for you! Merry Christmas to you as well.