Sweet and Sticky Baklava Recipe
Prep Time:
30 minutes
Cook Time:
40 minutes
Servings:
15 Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts
  • 1 ½ cups chopped pecans
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • ½ cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 (16-ounce) package phyllo dough, thawed if frozen
  • ½ cup (1 stick) melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
  2. Lay the nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Set aside.
  3. Combine the water, sugar, honey, and vanilla in a medium pot. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Then pour the syrup into a glass jar and let cool for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Cut phyllo dough sheets so that they'll fit into a 9x13-inch baking dish. Place the phyllo sheets in between 2 damp dishcloths to stay moist as you assemble the baklava.
  5. Using a pastry brush, coat the bottom of the pan with melted butter. Add 2 sheets of phyllo dough, brush some more butter on top. Build layers by repeating this process until you have used 8 sheets of phyllo dough.
  6. Mix the nuts with the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
  7. Spread out 2 tablespoons of the nut mixture over the top layer of phyllo and melted butter. Top with 2 sheets of dough and melted butter. Repeat this process with the nuts, phyllo, and butter until you have 8 sheets of dough left.
  8. For the remaining 8 sheets of phyllo dough, repeat the layering process from Step 5 until all phyllo has been added to the baking dish.
  9. Precut the assembled (but unbaked) baklava into pieces. Avoid cutting all the way to the bottom of the dish; you want to keep about ⅛ inch intact to hold in the syrup mixture.
  10. Bake the baklava for 30–40 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown.
  11. Pull the baklava out of the oven and pour the reserved syrup mixture over the top, allowing it to seeps down to all layers. Let it cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before serving.