What could be more delightful than crispy, golden phyllo, crunchy nuts and sweet, sticky honey syrup. This dessert is super decadent and utterly delicious. It requires a bit of construction time, and a delicate touch, but is not as difficult to prepare as you might think, especially since we use bought phyllo pastry. It is totally worth it though.

Honey Baklava

Vanessa Vermaak

What could be more delightful than crispy, golden phyllo, crunchy nuts and sweet, sticky honey syrup. This dessert is super decadent and utterly delicious. It requires a bit of construction time, and a delicate touch, but is not as difficut to prepare as you would think since we use bought phyllo. It is totally worth it though.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 2

Course Baked Goods, Dessert

Servings

Ingredients

1 Package phyllo sheets, thawed 500g
4 Cups Walnuts, finely chopped* approx. 500g
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Cup Castor or granulated sugar
1 Cup Water
¾ Cup Honey
250 Grams Unsalted Butter, melted

Instructions

Preparation

Thaw the phyllo sheets. I usually take mine out of the freezer an hour before I'm ready to start making the baklava
Meanwhile, using your food processor or by hand, finely chop the nuts. Add the cinnamon and give it another quick pulse or stir to incorporate. Set aside
Next, combine the sugar, water and honey in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring frequently. Once the mixture has come to a boil and the sugar is completely melted, reduce heat and simmer the mixture for around 4 minutes. Remove from the stove and let cool completely
Melt the butter
Preheat the oven to 160°C
Before you are ready for assembly, dampen two kitchen towels and place one onto your work surface. Remove the phyllo sheets from the packaging and trim the sheets according to your baking dish (the size of the sheets will vary depending on the brand of phyllo sheets you purchase, so just cut them to the correct size). I recommend a 22 x 30cm (approx) baking dish. Once cut to size, place phyllo sheets on the damp kitchen towel and cover with the second one
Before you are ready for assembly, butter or grease the baking dish

Assembly

Step 1: Add one sheet of the phyllo dough to the buttered baking dish and brush with melted butter. Repeat this process with another 9 phyllo sheets, until you have a stack of 10 buttered phyllo sheets. Top with ¾ cup of the chopped nuts
Step 2: Top the nut layer with another phyllo sheet, butter and repeat until you have a stack of 5 buttered phyllo sheets. Top with another ¾ cup of the chopped nuts
Repeat step 2 three more times
Step 3: add another 5 phyllo sheets, buttering each sheet between layering and spreading the remaining butter on top. The top layer will therefore have 10 sheets
Cut the baklava lengthwise into four 4cm wide strips. Then cut diagonally to form diamond shapes. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of chopped nuts (optional)

Baking

Bake for 1¼ – 1½ hours or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Immediately pour the cool honey syrup over the top and let cool completely

Notes

*You can use any nuts or combination of nuts of your choice. I used a combination of walnuts and pecan nuts for the filling, with some pistachios and almonds sprinkled on top

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Keyword Baking, Baklava, Honey baklava, Honey nut baklava, Phyllo, Phyllo pastry, Pistachio baklava, Three nut baklava, Walnut baklava