1
StepMake the syrup first so it has time to cool. Bring the sugar and water to a boil, stir until clear, then simmer for 10 minutes. Take it off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and honey, and leave it to cool completely to room temperature.
Desserts
Pistachio Baklava
Layers of paper-thin phyllo brushed with clarified butter around a dense green pistachio filling, baked until the top shatters at a touch. Cooled lemon syrup poured over the pastry straight from the oven soaks in without turning it soggy. It keeps at room temperature for the better part of a week.
95 min
Prep: 45 / Cook: 50
24
servings
Hard
Difficulty
4.5
6 Ratings
Emily Carter
This content is owned by the author and used with their consent.
Terms ↗March 4, 2026
Ingredients
For the syrup
- 400 g sugar
- 250 ml water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp honey
For the pastry
- 450 g phyllo pastry
- 250 g clarified butter
For the filling
- 300 g shelled pistachio
- 30 g sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
Preparation
7 Steps
2
StepPulse the pistachios with the 30 g of sugar, the cinnamon and salt until they are coarse crumbs with a few larger pieces. Do not grind them to paste or the filling turns oily.
3
StepHeat the oven to 170 C. Brush a 30 by 20 cm tin with clarified butter. Unroll the phyllo, cover the stack with a damp tea towel and pull one sheet at a time so the rest never dries out.
4
StepLay 10 sheets in the tin, brushing each with clarified butter, trimming to fit. Spread half the pistachio filling evenly, add 6 buttered sheets, spread the remaining filling, then finish with 10 more buttered sheets. Brush the top generously.
5
StepWith a sharp thin knife, cut the baklava into 24 diamonds or squares, pressing all the way through to the base of the tin. Sprinkle a teaspoon of cold water over the top to stop the edges curling.
6
StepBake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is a deep even gold and the pastry sounds crisp when tapped. If it colours too fast after 30 minutes, drop the oven to 160 C.
7
StepTake the tin straight from the oven and ladle the cooled syrup evenly over the hot pastry. It will hiss and bubble. Leave it uncovered for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight, before lifting out the pieces.
Chef's Tip
The rule that decides everything: cooled syrup on hot pastry, or hot syrup on cooled pastry, but never hot on hot. Cut all the way through to the base of the tin before baking, otherwise you cannot cut it cleanly afterwards.
Comments (3)
did it half walnut half pistachio because of the price, worked fine
my phyllo kept drying and cracking on me, half the sheets tore
damp towel over the whole stack, pull one sheet at a time, cover the rest again immediately. torn sheets in the middle layers do not matter.
cold syrup on hot pastry is the whole recipe. mine stayed crisp for days