Snack · 70 min · middle-eastern

Baklava

This is the kind of Middle Eastern snack you’ll make on repeat — phyllo pastry and walnuts, 70 minutes, big payoff.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 1 lb Phyllo pastry
• 3 cups Walnuts
• 1 cup Unsalted butter
• 1 cup Sugar
• 3/4 cup Honey
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Orange blossom water
• 1/2 cup Pistachios
• 1/4 tsp Salt

Steps

1. Pulse the walnuts with the cinnamon and salt until the pieces are the size of coarse breadcrumbs. A little unevenness is good — it keeps the filling from packing into a solid slab.
2. Melt the butter. Butter a 9x13 pan, lay in the first phyllo sheet, brush it with butter, and repeat for 10 sheets, keeping the rest covered with a damp towel.
3. Scatter a third of the nut filling over the base. Add 5 more buttered sheets, then another third of nuts, 5 more sheets, the last of the nuts, and finally 10 more buttered sheets on top.
4. Cut the baklava into diamonds all the way through before baking. Cutting raw is easy; cutting after baking shatters the layers.
5. Bake at 325°F for 45 minutes, until the top is a deep golden brown. Meanwhile, simmer the sugar, 3/4 cup water, honey, and lemon juice for 8 minutes, then stir in the orange blossom water.
6. Pour the hot syrup slowly over the hot baklava — it will sizzle and hiss. This is the moment of magic: the pastry drinks the syrup and turns to glassy layers.
7. Cool at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Baklava improves as it rests. Shower with crushed pistachios before serving.

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