Baklava Recipe

This is my husband's family recipe for baklava or baklawa. It is a nut and spice mixture layered between sheets of phyllo and butter. It is then topped with a generous amount of syrup. There are many ways to bake baklava and each and every method is simply divine. Try them all!

Prepare: 1

Bake: 1

Chill Time: 8

Total Time: 10

Servings: 36

Ingredients

Syrup

1 ½ cups (300g) sugar
¾ cup (180mL) hot water
1 tbs (21g) honey
2 tsp (10mL) lemon juice
1 tsp (1g) lemon zest

Baklava

1 package (454g) phyllo
1 pound (454g) finely chopped nuts*
1 ½ cups (339g) butter, melted
2 tbs (28g) brown sugar
1 ½ tsp (3g) cinnamon
⅛ tsp (1g) salt

Instructions

For the Syrup

Rinse lemon under cool water and dry throughly. Zest and juice the lemon.
In a heavy bottom saucepan, combine sugar, water, honey, lemon juice and zest. Stir until it no longer dissolves.
Turn heat to medium, stirring frequently until all the sugar dissolves. This can take around 15 minutes, so be patient. Once mixture starts to boil, cover and cook 2 minutes. Uncover and continue to boil for 4 additional minutes or until mixture reaches 230F (110C.)
Remove from heat and allow syrup to cool in pan before transferring into a heat proof container. Do not scrape down sides to prevent crystallization. Chill overnight or until syrup is cold.

For the Baklava

Preheat oven to 325F (170C.)
If using frozen phyllo, thaw overnight in the fridge or on the counter for 2 - 3 hours.
Unroll and cover phyllo sheets with plastic wrap, then a slightly damp towel to prevent drying out. If needed, trim one of the edges so the phyllo fits inside the baking pan.
Melt butter using the microwave or stovetop. Generously brush the bottom and sides of a 9x13x2 (23x33x5cm) baking pan with melted butter.
Remove the towel and plastic wrap and carefully place one sheet of the phyllo into the pan. Immediately cover up remaining phyllo to prevent drying out as you work.
Place a total of 9 sheets of phyllo on the bottom of the pan, brushing each sheet with melted butter. Cover with 1/4 of the nut mixture.
Layer 6 more phyllo sheets on top, brushing each sheet thinly with butter. Cover with 1/4 of the nut mixture. Repeat this step 2 more times.
Cover the remaining nut mixture with another 9 phyllo sheets, brushing each with butter.
Brush the top generously with the remaining butter. With a sharp knife, score phyllo into 1 1/2″ diamonds or squares.
Bake for 45 - 60 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove to a wire rack and pour cool syrup evenly over baklava. Cool completely for several hours, tenting the top with foil before serving.
Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Notes

*Walnuts, almonds and pistachios are the most commonly used nuts for baklava. It can be one type or a mixture.

For best results, thaw the phyllo overnight and make the syrup the night before. This will chill the syrup and develop flavors.

Other spices can be added to the nut mixture. Try some cardamom, cloves, nutmeg or allspice in small amounts (1/8 tsp or .5g) and see what flavor combinations you like best.

A tsp (5mL) of rose or orange blossom water is often added to the syrup from many relatives. This gives the baklava both a fragrant and pleasant floral undertone.

Adding cooled syrup to hot baklava ensures the baklava doesn't get soggy. Do not use modern glass bakeware if using cool syrup as it can shatter a hot dish under thermal shock.

Please note that 170C is actually equivalent to 338F. The recipe was originally written in Celsius and most ovens do not have an equivalent to 170C. Both 325F or 350F are acceptable temperatures to use but the higher temperature can risk causing the nuts to become bitter tasting.

Nutrition