greek baklava

My family’s secret baklava recipe combines layers of honey-soaked crisp phyllo pastry and a cinnamon-scented nut mixture with pistachios, walnuts, and hazelnut. Baklava is the perfect make-ahead dessert because it’s even better the next day!
Be sure to read through for tips and watch the video to make it. 

Baklava Recipe- How to Make Baklava 

oz shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

oz walnuts, coarsely chopped

oz hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

sugar

cinnamon (start with less if you're not sure)

cloves

phyllo dough, thawed

water

honey

tbsp orange extract (optional)

lemon, juice of

Make the Honey Syrup

Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat stove-top, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Add the honey, orange extract if using, and whole cloves; stir to mix. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and let simmer for about 25 minutes. Remove syrup from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Add lemon juice. Remove the whole cloves.

Make the Nut Mixture

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade, add the pistachios, walnut, and hazelnuts. Pulse a few times to chop. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add sugar, cinnamon, and ground cloves. Mix well to combine.

Prepare the Phyllo Pastry

Unroll the thawed phyllo pastry and place the sheets in between two clean kitchen towels. This will help keep the phyllo from breaking while you work.

Assemble the Baklava

Prepare a 9”x 13”x 2” baking pan. Brush the interior of the baking pan with some of the melted butter. To assemble the baklava, take one sheet of phyllo and place it in the pan (for this size pan, I typically fold my phyllo sheet in half, and it fits perfectly. You can also do a bit of trimming using a pair of kitchen shears). Brush the top of the phyllo sheet with the melted butter.

Repeat this process a few more times until you have used up about 1/3 of the phyllo pastry, each layer being brushed with the melted butter.

Now, distribute about ½ of the nut mixture evenly over the top layer of phyllo.

Continue assembling the baklava, one sheet of phyllo pastry at a time using another 1/3 of the phyllo. Again, brush each layer with a bit of the melted butter.

Distribute the remaining ½ of the nut mixture evenly over the top layer of phyllo.

Finish the remaining 1/3 of the phyllo pastry following the same process, laying one folded sheet at a time and brushing each layer with melted butter. Brush the very top sheet of phyllo with butter.

Cut the Baklava Pastry Into Pieces

Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into 24 diamond shaped pieces (you can get up to 36 smaller pieces). (Review the tutorial above to see how I cut baklava).

Bake

Place the baking dish on the middle rack of your heated oven. Bake anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes or until the top of the baklava turns golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. (IMPORTANT…Because ovens vary, be sure to check your baklava half-way through baking).

Pour Syrup Over Hot Baklava

As soon as you remove the baklava from the oven, pour the cooled syrup all over the hot baklava.

Cool Completely

Allow baklava to sit for a few hours before serving or for at least 1 hour. Cut through the earlier marked pieces. Serve with a garnish of chopped pistachios, if you like.

I read most of the Baklava recipes on Pinterest and this was the one I picked.  So easy. A little time consuming to brush butter on every layer but the final product was worth all the time put into it.  I used what I had at home so one 8 oz bag of raw pistachios and one 8 oz bag of raw mixed walnuts cashew and macadamia nuts. Turned out delicious. 

Thank you for such a delicious and simple recipe.

Thank you! This was a simple recipe with delicious results. I messed up my oven timer and it baked for 60 min instead of 45 ... but the layers of phyllo at the bottom saved it from burning! Definitely a forgiving and delicious recipe!

I was intimidated of Baklava but excited to try it for the first time. Thank you for the recipe and video! It was DELICIOUS and easy to follow your directions.

Such a delicious recipe! I love baklava and this was definitely the best one I have ever had. I agree with some of the other comments left. Brushing the melted butter on each layer of phyllo dough was very time consuming. Maybe I am just slow but it took me about an hour to carefully handle the phyllo dough so it wouldn't break and brush the butter on each layer.
Also, my 9 x 13 glass baking dish was not big enough to hold all of the layers of phyllo dough evenly. As the layers piled up the crust started to rise above the sides of the dish so I had to trim the phyllo dough a bit. 

Nevertheless, this recipe is DELICIOUS and will sure to be a hit. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars. Seriously so good!

Hi, the shelled pistachios that you are using are they salted or unsalted?

This is the best baklava recipe hands down. I found it to reach perfection 3 days after preparing. So amazing

I am so disappointed in this recipe I can't begin to tell you. The time time I put into it for our Christmas dinner, that we were celebrating a Greek Cuisine, has added to the disappointment as I am serving it to guests. Here is the big mistake the author of this recipe made. For the honey syrup list of amount of ingredients, she put "1 lemon, juice of". So rather than, 1 Tablespoon, or 1 teaspoon, which is what I was expecting, it instructs, juice of one lemon. Well, do all lemons produce the same amount of juice? Well, it turns out it was at least a quarter of a cup. So you guessed it, the baklava tastes like citrus. Not honey.  Please list an amount or none at all.

Wowwww!! Huge hit with everyone who tried a piece! A little tedious as all that buttering and phyllo'ing takes a quick second to manage. Next time I would maybe cut the orange extract to 3/4tbsp, also i squeezed half a lemon for juice. Also next time would consider alternating nut layers instead of 2 thick ares of nuts.


But honestly, this baklava had everyone coming back for more!!!

Hey also. Is the baklava layers suppose to be quite flimsy? They look perfect but it looks like the layers falling apart when i pick it up x

This was excellent! I've always loved baklava, but for some reason have not tried making it. The recipe was very clear and straightforward. I would make some adjustments next time, but simply to accommodate my taste (I'd use about 12 oz. pistachios, and the rest walnuts, and I would increase the sugar syrup by about 25%). I cut the recipe in half, and it turned out perfectly.

Can’t Thank You Enough !
 I have been craving Baklava for quite awhile now but where I live in upstate NY it’s not easy to find. I figured what the heck going to have to make it myself.  Your recipe was clear, concise and a joy to follow.  My friends can’t stop raving about it !  I used orange zest instead of orange extract because finding the extract has proven to be difficult.  I finally just ordered some online so my next batch will be even better !

Lovely recipe! I halved the quantity and used almonds as I had no other nuts. It was delicious, thanks for sharing Suzy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck3nNDQMa_o

My family’s secret baklava recipe combines layers of honey-soaked crisp phyllo pastry and a cinnamon-scented nut mixture with pistachios, walnuts, and hazelnut.

👉 FULL RECIPE: http://bit.ly/TMD-Baklava
👉 SUBSCRIBE TO THIS CHANNEL: http://bit.ly/TMDYouTube-Subscribe

INGREDIENTS:
🔹 6 oz shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
🔹 6 oz walnuts, coarsely chopped
🔹 6 oz hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
🔹 1/4 cup sugar
🔹 1 to 2 tbsp ground cinnamon (start with less if you’re not sure)
🔹 large pinch of ground cloves
🔹 16-oz package phyllo dough, thawed
🔹 1 1/2 to 2 sticks of unsalted butter (up to 16 tbsp), melted

HONEY SYRUP
🔹 3/4 cup sugar
🔹 1 cup cold water
🔹 1 cup honey
🔹 5 whole cloves
🔹 1 lemon, juice of

Baklava Recipe - Sharing Family Secrets for Making Homemade Baklava

The best traditional Greek Baklava recipe! A classic Baklava dessert with layers of phyllo, walnuts and honey to amaze your guests with it's authentic taste

Traditional Greek Baklava Recipe with Walnuts and Honey

phyllo dough

cinnamon powder

clove

butter, melted (10 oz.)

sugar (20 oz.)

water (14 oz.)

honey or glucose (2.8 oz.)

lemon

cinnamon

To prepare this Greek baklava recipe, start by melting the butter in a saucepan over low heat, being careful not to burn it. Use a cooking brush to butter the bottom and sides of a baking pan. (For this baklava recipe you will need a large baking pan approx. 40*30cm / 15*12 inch). Begin by layering the sheets of phyllo on the bottom of the baking dish to form the base. Layer the sheets one at a time, making sure to sprinkle each one with melted butter. Use about 10-12 layers for the base.

In a large bowl, mix the chopped nuts, the cinnamon and grounded clove. Sprinkle the nut mixture over the phyllo base and continue forming the top of the baklava. Top the nuts with the rest phyllo sheets (10-15 of them), sprinkling each one with melted butter and brush the top of the baklava with enough butter. You could also try adding some of the filling in between layers of filo.

Place the baklava in the fridge for 15 minutes to make it easier to cut into pieces. Remove from the fridge and using a sharp knife cut all the way down into pieces. If you fancy the taste of clove, place one whole clove into the middle of each baklava piece and sprinkle the top with some cold water.

Place the baklava in preheated oven at 150C / 300F on the lower rack (both top and bottom heating elements on) and bake for about 1 1/2- 2 hours, until all the phyllo layers are crisp and golden.

Prepare the syrup. Into a small pot mix all the ingredients for the syrup (except honey) and bring to the boil. Boil for about 2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Take it off the heat and stir in the honey. Let the syrup cool down. You can also put the syrup in the fridge. As soon as the baklava is ready, ladle slowly the cold syrup over the hot baklava, until it is fully absorbed.

Let the baklava cool down completely and serve after the syrup has soaked throughput. Enjoy!

AMAZING. Follow directions and you will be wowed!

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