Make this Traditional Almond Baklava Recipe Smothered with Honey

A traditional almond baklava recipe with layers of buttered pastry layered, chopped nuts, and soaked in a spiced honey syrup. Easy to make and delicious!

Baklava is a dessert that, for me, expresses the joy of a rich and bountiful summer harvest. It’s layered with crunchy almonds and nuts, layers of fine pasty, and is utterly dripping with a spiced honey syrup. This is a traditional almond baklava recipe and if you’re intrigued by the description, then I urge you to make it to enjoy. The full recipe and instructions are below and in all, it will take about an hour to make. Though the longer you let the baklava infuse, the more delicious it will be!

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The first time I had this middle-eastern treat was in the airport in Greece on my way back home from a trip. I saw it multiple times, thought about trying some, and didn’t in the end. For two weeks I’d somehow missed out on trying it and nearly kicked myself afterward. I did get a taste after I got home though and it was everything that was promised. The sweet and crunchy morsels of deliciousness were oozing with rich honey and marzipan-like filling. Just my kind of thing.

Honey and Almond Baklava recipe - filo pastry layered with chopped nuts and soaked in a spiced honey syrup

Baklava is a Dessert of the Mediterranean

I had the dish again when a Cypriot friend offered to make her family’s traditional almond baklava recipe. The pastry practically floated in a dish of sweet syrup and instead of the mini-rolled sweets I’d had in Greece she made a full dish and then cut it into diamonds. I think making it in a full dish might be easier to prepare and to serve up so have stuck to this design myself.

Traditional Almond Baklava Recipe

Makes 16-18 large diamonds – each is perfect for a single serving

Decadent almond baklava recipe with almonds, cinnamon, cloves, and layers of filo pastry. It’s an easy-to-make dessert but I recommend that you make it the day before you serve it.

Ingredients

Honey Syrup
1-1/2 cups Honey
1-1/2 cups White Sugar
2 Tbsp Lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon
5 whole Cloves

Filling
2 cups chopped almonds
2 cups chopped mixed nuts of your choice – peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 cup of Sugar
1 cup of melted butter

Pastry
Filo dough – you will need 24 sheets the size of your dish. For me, this was a single package that was 250g (half a pound)
1/2 cup of melted butter

Step 1: Make the Syrup

Place all of the syrup ingredients into a saucepan on low to med-low heat. Stir until it’s dissolved and then bring the heat up to medium and allow it to simmer for five minutes. Next, take it off the heat, remove the cloves, and allow it to cool. I used my own raw honey for this part and highly recommend you source local honey too – the flavor will knock your socks off!

Step 2: Make the Filling

Place all of the filling ingredients into a bowl and stir well. Yes, that’s a lot of butter! If you haven’t purchased pre-chopped nuts you can chop them up by hand or in a food processor. They should be roughly chopped though rather than finely ground.

Step 3: Layer the pastry

First pre-heat your oven to 350F / 180F / 160C fan-assisted oven.

Next, melt about half a cup of butter and then grease your dish. The one I used is 12×9″. Now you get layering. Place a single sheet of pastry in the dish and then lightly brush it with melted butter. Repeat this process until you have eight sheets of buttered filo in the dish.

On top of this pasty, spoon out half of your nut filling and spread it evenly.
Next, eight more layers of buttered filo pasty go on top then the other half of the filling.
Lastly, layer eight more layers of filo on top. In cross-section you have five different layers of alternating pastry and nuts.

Step 4: Bake and Soak

Score the top of the pastry in a diamond design – three horizontal lines lengthwise and then diagonal lines over these. You can cut the lines after you bake but it can make the top of the pastry flake off (like mine!). Not a big deal but probably advise doing it before if you want it to be professional-looking.

Sprinkle the top of the dish with cold water and then place it in the oven. The water helps to keep the top layer of filo from puffing up. Bake for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 300F/150C/140c for fan-assisted ovens. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Step 5: Soak the Baklava with Honey Syrup

Just after you take the dish out of the oven, cut through your scored lines all the way to the bottom of the dish. Next spoon the cooled syrup all over the pastry while it’s still hot, making sure it slips down every cut you made.

Cover lightly and let the syrup creep into the pastry over the space of 6-24 hours. The longer the better. Left at room temperature this traditional almond baklava recipe will last a full week if you can keep your hands off of it! Enjoy ~