I have always wanted to make Baklava. I remember my first taste of Baklava, it was amazing – all of those layers of luscious honey and nuts – I couldn’t believe I had been missing out on this secret treat. That was about 10 years ago – and ever since then I have been thinking about how I was going to make it myself.
Fast forward 10 years – here I am, with my blog, always looking for the next challenge to post. I saw a recipe in Bon Appetit that Molly Wizenberg posted and I felt like she was writing about me. The thought of making Baklava just scared me! I had to face my fears…but not with that recipe. I needed something with cinnamon and honey – and her recipe was orange cardamom. Not my thing. But, I decided I was going to do it anyway. I bought the phyllo – and better than that – I bought pounds of pistachios. My husband and I spent an hour shelling those pistachios – and they were all ready for me. And then they sat in the pantry…for weeks. He kept asking me when I was going to make it? There was something just not right. I even took the phyllo out of the freezer all prepared to make it one day – and chickened out. Back to the freezer it went.
Then I saw it – another recipe in Bon Appetit – this one with cinnamon honey syrup – that was it – I was going to combine both recipes and come up with a winner. One that would taste ridiculous. So I did it – and it was not easy, and I had to work very quickly – so quickly, that by the time my daughter came downstairs to help me – I was practically done. The one trick I learned? Don’t worry about the phyllo staying in one piece – it’s no big deal it if breaks, you will never know!
The final result was INCREDIBLE!!!! I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders – I DID IT!!! I just wanted to shout to the world – I CAN MAKE A BAKLAVA – and it was sick. It was the most amazing dessert I have ever made. I brought it into work – and everyone loved it, I was so proud. Who ever thought that making a dessert could be so rewarding? But it was…it was the best feeling ever.
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 8 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1 cup water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 12 ounces shelled pistachios, toasted (scant 3 cups)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 18 14×9-inch sheets fresh phyllo pastry or frozen, thawed (from one 16-ounce package)
Preparation
Simmer 2 cups sugar, honey, water and cinnamon sticks in saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil over medium heat until reduced to approximately 2 cups, about 15 minutes. Cool syrup.
Place nuts and 2 tablespoons sugar in processor. Using on/off turns, process until most of nuts are finely ground (the largest pieces should be the size of small peas). Mix nuts, 6 tablespoons sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with some of melted butter. Place 1 phyllo sheet folded over on bottom of dish. Brush lightly with melted butter. Repeat 5 more times with phyllo and melted butter. Sprinkle half of pistachio mixture (about 1 1/2 cups) evenly over phyllo. Place 1 phyllo sheet (folded over) over nuts; brush lightly with butter. Repeat 5 more times with phyllo sheets and melted butter. Sprinkle remaining pistachio mixture evenly over. Place 1 phyllo sheet atop nuts folded in half; brush with butter. Repeat 5 more times with phyllo sheets and melted butter.
Using sharp knife, cut diagonally through top phyllo layer from top left corner to bottom right corner. Cut top layer of phyllo into 1-inch-wide rows parallel to both sides of first cut. Turn pan and cut rows about 2 1/4 inches wide, forming diamond pattern.
Bake baklava until golden brown and crisp, 50 to 55 minutes. Drizzle syrup evenly over hot baklava. Cool in pan on rack. Recut baklava along lines all the way through layers.
For a printer-friendly verison of this recipe, please click here: Pistachio Baklava with Cinnamon Honey Syrup
DO AHEAD Baklava can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
First Look, Then Cook 
This sounds absolutely delicious – and a combination of flavors I would adore. I have the perfect ice wine for this dessert. So now that you made it – was it terribly difficult? Also, where do you find phyllo pastry? Is it in the freezer section of the grocery stores?
Ice wine – YUM!!! That would be perfect with this. You can buy phyllo in the freezer section of almost any grocery store. Yes, it was not easy to make – but it was not very time consuming either. I would say it was about 30 minutes of stress, but again – don’t worry about making sure the phyllo is perfect, it definitely doesn’t need to be, and no one will notice.
I was lucky enough to try this when Dawn brought this into work. It was AMAZING! You have absolutely spoilt me with brilliant baklava, the bar is so high now. :)
They look absolutely delicious. I hate pistachios but somehow once they’re turned into baklava I find them irresistible. My mum who’s an even bigger baklava fan than me has been begging me to have a go at making some, now that I’ve got such a highly recommended recipe I’ll have to give it a go.
Congrats! It’s absolutely beautiful and I bet it tastes even better :) It sounds like a lot of work, but what’s better than homemade baklava??
Looks great! I am planning on making baklava next week and think I’ll go with your recipe. What do you mean when you say “place one sheet folded over” do you mean folded in half?
Yes, exactly – otherwise the sheets do not fit nicely in the pan.
Oh my, it looks amazing and I’m sure tastes better home made too… My only issue is that it seems to yield a lot. If I made this much I would probably eat it in one day and that would mean having to wear elasticized pants for the next week. :-/ Well done on making it though!
I had this at a party a few years ago and still think about it. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I can stop thinking and start cooking.. oh wait, you know what I mean.:)
I absolutely LOVE Baklava… me trying to create it should be funny though. Wish me luck in my attempts! :)
Good luck!!
Wow, good for you! I am a huge baklava fan myself, but also find it to be a daunting task. Looks like your hard work and fear-conquering was worth it!
Oh, I am pretty sure this is delicious! :)
This looks lovely! Are the pistachios roasted or raw? If roasted, salted or unsalted? I’ve had a hard time finding raw unsalted pistachios for making baklava.
They are roasted, and un-salted. I had to buy ones in a shell, and it took hours to open them all…
Oh my… just made this, haven’t tasted it yet but I know it will be amazing! I used Pomegranite Agave syrup instead of honey (since I had an open bottle of it!) The syrup is to die for…. thank you, thank you!!!!
Let me know how they taste, I am so glad you liked the recipe!
I had Baklava one time several years ago and I loved it but could never find a recipe that came close to what I had tasted. I tried this recipe and it is even better than my first taste of Baklava. It took awhile for me to make because I am not a fast cooker and I wanted to make sure I followed the recipe precisely. Very good!!
Sounds amazing! But it took me ages to realise what you were refering to by Phyllo…. Filo pastry! Is Phyllo the american spelling?
Yes, that is so funny!
i love baklava, and always wanted to try making it at home, with such a useful recipe i am sure that i will make some delicious pistachio baklava.
They are lovely Costco sell them but now I know how to bake them I’ll do it myself