Baklava

Step 1

Place honey, sugar, water, cinnamon stick, cloves, salt, orange peel and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover and let simmer on low heat for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool to room temperature. Remove cinnamon, cloves and orange peel. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.

Step 2

Pulse walnuts, almonds and pistachios in the food processor until, finely chopped, about 20 pulses. Do not over chop as you do not want a paste or fine meal. Pour mixture into a bowl and combine with sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and salt.

Step 3

Preheat oven to 325F and place oven rack in the lower middle position.

Step 4

Use a pair of clean scissors to cut phyllo sheets in half, width-wise. Stack the sheets and cover with a clean dishtowel to keep them from drying out.

Step 5

For the buttering, scoop off any foam that has formed on top of the butter and try to use only the top portion of the butter and not the solids that settle on the bottom. This will help the baklava brown more evenly. Generously brush the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan that has 2-inch sides.

Step 6

Layer one-third of phyllo sheets over the bottom of the pan, brushing each sheet with butter before adding the next one.

Step 7

Spread half of the nut mixture evenly over the layered phyllo sheets.

Step 8

Layer another third of the phyllo sheets over the nut mixture brushing each sheet with butter before adding the next one.

Step 9

Spread the second half of the nut mixture evenly over the layered phyllo sheets.

Step 10

Top with last third of phyllo sheets, again brushing with butter between each layer and finishing with a final brush of butter over the top sheet.

Step 11

Using a sharp knife with a pointed tip, cut the baklava into diamonds in 4 rows of 8 diamonds.

Step 12

Bake baklava until golden and crisp, about 1 hour, rotating halfway through baking.

Step 13

Immediately pour all but 2 tbsp of the cooled syrup over the cut lines of the baklava. Drizzle remaining syrup over the top and sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts if desired.

Step 14

Let baklava cool completely in the pan, then cover with aluminum foil and let sit overnight before serving.