Shatter-Crisp Pistachio-Walnut Baklava with Lemon-Honey Syrup

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Forty-some tissue-thin layers of phyllo, brushed with clarified butter so they bake into brittle golden sheets instead of soggy ones, packed with a triple layer of pistachios and walnuts. A cooled lemon-honey syrup goes over the pastry the second it leaves the oven — that temperature contrast is what gives you the loud shatter on the first bite and a candied, glassy top. It needs six hours of unhurried resting before you cut into it, and it only gets better the next day.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 strips lemon peel, removed with a vegetable peeler
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water or rose water (optional)

• 1 1/2 cups shelled raw pistachios (about 7 oz)
• 1 1/2 cups walnut halves (about 5 1/2 oz)
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons plain dry breadcrumbs or fine semolina

• 1 lb frozen phyllo dough (two 8-oz sleeves, #4 thickness), thawed overnight in the refrigerator
• 1 lb unsalted butter (4 sticks), for clarifying
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios, for garnish

Instructions

1. Make the syrup first so it has time to cool completely. Combine the 1 1/2 cups sugar, water, honey, lemon juice, lemon peel strips and cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves, then reduce to a bare simmer and cook 10 minutes without stirring. Remove from the heat, stir in the orange blossom water if using, and let cool to room temperature (at least 1 hour). Fish out the peel and cinnamon stick before using.
2. Clarify the butter: melt the pound of butter in a saucepan over low heat without stirring, 8 to 10 minutes. Skim the white foam off the top and discard, then carefully pour the clear golden butter into a bowl, stopping when you reach the milky solids at the bottom. You should have about 1 1/2 cups. Keep it warm and liquid; the milk solids are what make phyllo turn soggy, so leave them behind.
3. Pulse the pistachios and walnuts separately in a food processor in short bursts until they look like coarse gravel with a little sand — 8 to 10 one-second pulses each. Do not let them turn to paste. Combine in a bowl with the 3 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs absorb nut oil and syrup and keep the layers distinct.
4. Heat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the lower third. Brush a 9x13-inch metal baking pan generously with clarified butter. Unroll the phyllo onto a work surface, trim the stack with a knife if it is much larger than the pan, and cover it with plastic wrap topped with a barely damp kitchen towel. Work with the stack covered at all times — exposed phyllo goes brittle in about 2 minutes.
5. Build the bottom: lay one sheet of phyllo in the pan and brush it lightly all over with clarified butter, dabbing rather than dragging the brush. Repeat until you have 10 buttered sheets stacked in the pan. Torn sheets are fine — patch and keep going.
6. Scatter one third of the nut mixture (about 1 cup) evenly over the phyllo, all the way to the corners. Top with 6 buttered sheets, another third of the nuts, 6 more buttered sheets, and the last third of the nuts.
7. Finish with 10 more buttered sheets, saving the best-looking, most intact sheets for the top two layers. Brush the final sheet with a thick, even coat of butter and press the whole stack down firmly with your palms to compact it.
8. Cut all the way through to the bottom of the pan with a sharp thin knife before baking: 5 evenly spaced lengthwise cuts, then cut on the diagonal across them to make about 24 diamonds. Wipe the blade between cuts. Drizzle or brush any remaining butter into the cut lines.
9. Bake 70 to 80 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and the edges have visibly pulled from the pan sides. If the top is browning unevenly, rotate the pan at the 45-minute mark. Baklava that looks blond is underbaked and will taste doughy — go for the color of toasted almonds.
10. The moment the pan comes out of the oven, ladle the completely cooled syrup slowly and evenly over the hot pastry, concentrating on the cut lines. It will hiss and steam loudly. Use all of it. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over the top while it is wet.
11. Let the pan rest uncovered at room temperature at least 6 hours, ideally overnight, so the syrup distributes and the layers set. Re-cut along the original lines and lift the pieces out with an offset spatula. Serve at room temperature.
12. Store loosely covered at room temperature for up to 5 days. Never refrigerate — cold turns the syrup gummy and the pastry limp.

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Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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