Turkish baklava turkish delight, oriental sweets on a black dish for serving on a wooden white table.
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How to Make Baklava?

A flaky, crispy, and heavenly baklava recipe to make at home!
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Total Time1 hr 15 mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Middle East
Keyword: baklava recipe, how to make baklava, baklava
Appliance: Saucepan, Food Processor, Knife, Pastry Brush, measuring cups and spoons, tea towel, scissors, bowls
Servings: 25 pieces
Author: Vanya Sharma

Ingredients

For the pastry

  • 8 ounces hazelnuts chopped
  • 8 ounces pistachios chopped
  • 1/4 cup pistachios shelled
  • 8 ounces walnuts chopped
  • 1 package phyllo dough thawed
  • 20 tbsp unsalted butter melted
  • 1 tbsp cloves grounded
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon grounded
  • 1/4 cup sugar granulated

For the syrup

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1 lemon optional
  • 5 cloves optional
  • 1/2 tbsp orange extract optional

Instructions

For the syrup

  • To make the honey syrup, place sugar and water in a pan and stir it till the sugar dissolves. Now, add honey, orange extract, and cloves to it and mix. Once it boils, lower the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes till the mixture takes a thick syrup-like consistency. Once it is ready, let it cool and add lemon juice to it. You can remove the cloves too.

For the pastry

  • First thing first - preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
  • Next, you would want to prepare the filling. Take the walnuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios and put them in a food processor. Add the ground sugar, cinnamon, and cloves to it. Pulse the mixture till it is chopped well.
  • In a saucepan, melt the butter on low heat. Once the butter is nearly melted, switch off the heat. The rest will melt with the heat of the pan.
  • Here comes the important part - clear up enough space to keep your bowl of filling, baking pan, melted butter, and the pastry brush. Make sure there is enough space for the phyllo too.
  • Now carefully unwrap the phyllo sheets and unroll them next to the baking pan. Try placing one phyllo sheet on the baking pan to see if it fits. If there is extra phyllo falling out of the pan, trim it with scissors. 
  • Next up, spread the phyllo sheet on a damp tea towel and cover it with another. This will prevent cracks from forming on it while you assemble your baklava.
  • Now with a soft hand, brush up the baking dish with the melted butter and spread out your phyllo sheet on top of it. Put some more butter and spread a few sheets on top of the first sheet.
  • Continue with the process till you have used up to 1/3rd of the phyllo package. On the top of the last sheet, evenly spread the first layer of nut mixture. 
  • Over the first layer of the nut mixture, spread out another 4-5 layers of phyllo with butter between them. Now add the final layer of nut mixture on top of it. If need be, cut off the extra layer of phyllo. Generously brush butter on the final layer.
  • With this, your baklava is almost ready. Cut it into diamond-shaped pieces around 1/2 inch deep. Once done, place it in the oven and let it bake for 45 minutes. It is important to keep checking the oven while your baklava is getting baked. This is because sometimes the heat level in the oven varies and you don't want it to overbake.
  • Once ready, take out the baklava from the oven and pour the honey syrup on the entirety of it. Let the syrup absorb into the rich dessert and then garnish it with the remaining cup of chopped pistachios. It's ready to serve now!
    A flat lay pic of Baklava, a Turkish dessert

Notes

How to Store?
Thankfully, baklava has a long shelf life. It can stay for up to 2 weeks easily when put in the right conditions. Make sure to keep it in an airtight container in a fridge. If you want to maintain the crispiness of the dessert, store it at room temperature, however, keep in mind that when kept outside of the fridge, your baklava might not stay beyond a week.