Easy Baklava

There's something special about a flakey piece of golden baklava, but I always thought it would be too tedious to make at home. This is the recipe that's made making homemade baklava a joy and comes out delicious every time!

Prep Time20

Cook Time50

Total Time1 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Servings: people

Calories: 659kcal

Equipment

1 small pot
1 food processor
1 9x11 baking pan

Ingredients

For the simple syrup:

1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
juice of half a lemon
juice of half an orange

For the baklava:

1 lb box phyllo sheets thawed to room temperature
3 cups walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup clarified butter or ghee melted

Instructions

Add the sugar, water, lemon and orange juice to a small pot over medium to low heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer (about 5 minutes) to let the sugar completely dissolve. Set aside for later.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of a food processor, add the walnuts and sugar. Pulse until the walnuts are broken down into little pieces.
Cut the phyllo sheets to fit your pan. You'll need to cut a few inches off the bottom as well as the side.
Lay 25 sheets on the bottom of the baking dish. Then spread the nuts and sugar in a single layer over that. Lay the rest of the sheets on top (there should be about 15).
Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava into diamonds. Diamond shapes are traditional but squares work just fine as well. I like good sized pieces so I stick to 4 cuts lengthwise and 6-7 crosswise.
Pour the melted gee evenly over top of the whole thing.
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until golden and crispy.
Remove the pan from the oven and immediately pour the cooled syrup over the hot baklava. Let the baklava cool to room temperature (this takes about 2 hours) so that the syrup can full soak into the nuts and phyllo.

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