"Delicious Pistachio-Walnut Baklava Recipe: A Sweet and Nutty Treat for Any Occasion"

This is one of my favorite desserts because of the crispy, sweet, and nutty layers of carefully stacked phyllo sheets liberally coated with melted butter that cover all of the toasted goodness of your favorite nuts.

Baklava is a layered delicacy composed of phyllo dough sheets filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. This Mediterranean dessert is typically cooked in huge pans. Many layers of phyllo dough separated by melted butter are set in the pan. A layer of chopped nuts is laid on top, followed by more layers of phyllo. Before baking, the dough is divided into bite sized pieces, triangles, diamonds, and rectangles. After baking, a syrup is poured over the baked baklava and left to soak. Baklava is often eaten at room temperature and commonly topped with ground nuts.

It's also my son's favorite dessert, as well as the most popular among my husband's coworkers, due to the honey sweet citrus juicy filling in each crisp bite.

Makes 24 servings

Ingredients:

Baklava

• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, toasted

• 1 1/2 cups toasted pistachios, plus 3 tablespoons for topping

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, melted

• One 16-ounce package frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Syrup

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 cup honey

• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a 9x13-inch baking pan generously with some of the melted butter

2. Prepare the nuts. In a food processor, combine the walnuts, the 1 1/2 cups of pistachios, sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and pulse until finely chopped, leaving some of the nuts in larger pieces.

3. Prepare the phyllo sheets. Lay the phyllo sheets on a piece of plastic wrap and cover with another piece of plastic wrap followed by a damp towel to prevent them from drying.

4. Assemble the Baklava. First layer: Place 1 sheet of phyllo on the bottom of the prepared pan. Brush generously with melted butter and repeat with 5 more sheets of phyllo. Sprinkle with 1cup of the nut mixture.

5. Second layer: Top the nut mixture with a phyllo sheet and brush it generously with butter. Repeat with 5 more phyllo sheets.

6. Third layer: Sprinkle with 1cup of the nut mixture and top with 6 phyllo sheets, brushing each with butter.

7. Fourth Layer: Sprinkle with the remaining nut mixture. Top with 10 phyllo sheets, brushing each sheet generously with butter.

8. Cut the Baklava. Using a sharp knife, cut the phyllo layers into 24 squares, then cut each square in half on the diagonal.

9. Let's Bake. Bake until golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Set the baklava pan on a wire rack once baked.

10. Make the syrup. While the baklava is baking, in a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, honey, and1 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the orange juice.

11. Final step. Slowly pour all the warm syrup over the entire surface of the hot baklava, then sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of chopped toasted pistachios on top.

12. Let stand at room temperature on a wire rack at least 4 hours or up to overnight before serving.

13. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Adapted from Magnolia.com