Walnut Pistachio Baklava

Ingredients

• 40 sheet Phyllo dough, thawed overnight in the fridge
• 2 cups Walnuts
• 1 cup Pistachios
• 12 tbsp Unsalted butter, melted
• 1 ¼ cups Granulated sugar
• ½ cup Honey
• 1 Lemon
• 1 ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp Ground cloves
• ½ tsp Kosher salt

Method

1. Make the syrup first and let it cool completely: simmer 1 cup of the sugar with 1 cup water, the honey, a strip of lemon peel and the juice for 10 minutes. Cold syrup onto hot pastry is the rule — the reverse gives you a soggy tray.
2. Pulse the nuts with the remaining sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt to a coarse crumb, not a powder.
3. Keep the phyllo stack under a damp towel while you work; exposed sheets shatter within a minute.
4. Butter the pan. Lay 10 sheets, brushing every second one with butter. Spread a third of the nuts. Repeat with 8 sheets and nuts, twice more, then finish with 14 sheets on top, buttering more generously as you go.
5. Cut all the way through into diamonds before baking. Baked baklava cannot be cut without shattering.
6. Bake at 325°F for 70-80 minutes until deep golden all the way through. Slow is essential — the middle layers need to dry out and crisp.
7. Pour the cold syrup over the hot pastry the moment it comes out. It will hiss and sizzle for a full minute. Leave it uncovered at least 6 hours before eating; overnight is better.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Cold syrup, hot pastry. That temperature difference is what lets the syrup soak in without softening the layers.

🧒 For the kids

Brushing butter on phyllo is a genuinely satisfying job and children are patient with it for longer than you would expect.

🥡 Leftovers

Two weeks at room temperature, loosely covered. Never refrigerate it — it goes gluey.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.