Pistachio Baklava

Needs to be transferred to american measurements.

150g pistachios
150g walnuts
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cardamon
200g butter, coarsely chopped
375g filo pastry

Honey syrup
200g caster sugar
80g honey
1 lemon, grated rind and juice only (juice added to taste)
200ml water
½ cinnamon quill
few drops rosewater and/or orange blossom water to taste

Optional: Extra chopped pistachios for sprinkling over the top of baklava.


Preheat oven to 180C.

Spread the nuts on a baking tray and lightly toast in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until aromatic (toast the pistachios and walnuts on separate trays). Cool.

Combine the pistachios, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and caradmon in the bowl of a food processor and process a few times using the pulse button on the food processor. Then add the walnuts and continue pulsing until the nuts are coarsely chopped but not ground. (I processed the pistachios first for a bit before adding in the walnuts as the walnuts crumble more and I found that if I processed the pistachios and walnuts at the same time the walnuts became more ground before pistachios were fully chopped) Set aside the nut mixture.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat, set aside and keep warm. Brush a 3cm-deep, 8x8inch square baking tray with butter. Cut filo sheets to fit tray snugly and cover with a damp tea towel (this prevents the sheets from drying out).

Layer one-third of the filo pastry in tray, brushing butter between each layer. Scatter evenly with half the nut mixture, then top with half the remaining pastry, brushing butter between each layer. Scatter over remaining nuts, top with remaining filo, brushing between each layer with butter. Lightly brush the top with remaining butter.

Refrigerate until firm (around 15 minutes so that it is easier to score), then cut through all pastry layers into 4cm diamonds with a sharp knife. Bake until golden and cooked through (45 minutes-1 hour). Cover loosely with foil partway through cooking if top browns too quickly.

While the baklava is baking, make the honey syrup - combine sugar, honey, lemon rind, cinnamon quill and 200ml water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to low, simmer until infused (20 minutes). Remove from heat, strain through a fine sieve, stir through lemon juice and rosewater/orange blossom water to taste and set aside.

Cool baklava slightly (2-3 minutes), pour over syrup evenly, set aside at room temperature to cool completely (overnight if possible). Baklava will keep in tray, covered, for 3-4 days.

Optional: Sprinkle the top of the baklava with extra chopped pistachios