This super-easy Greek baklava recipe is the perfect decadent sweet dessert made with everyday ingredients like phyllo dough, walnuts, butter, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla extract - all baked to perfection and soaked in a sweet honey syrup. This is one dessert everyone will love and devour any time of the day!
If using frozen phyllo dough, allow it to come to room temperature before assembling.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius) and grease a baking pan with melted butter.
Cooking instructions
Pour the walnuts and cinnamon into a food processor and blitz until fine crumbs.
Remove the filo dough from the package and cut them in half (if the sheets are large) to fit the pan. Cover the sheets with a dampened cloth so that they don't dry out.
Place two layers of phyllo sheets into the baking pan and brush with melted butter. Repeat this step until you have 8 phyllo sheets.
Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the nut mixture over the buttered sheets.
Lay another 2 buttered sheets on top, followed by the nut mixture, and repeat until all the mixture has been used. The top layer should have 6 or 8 sheets of phyllo.
Use a sharp knife to cut the baklava lengthways 4 or 5 times and then cut across it diagonally to create diamond shapes.
Bake the prepared Greek baklava in the preheated oven for 50 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
While the baklava bakes, make the sweet syrup by boiling the sugar, lemon peel, and water until the sugar has dissolved. Pour in the vanilla extract and honey and turn the heat to a simmer for about 20 minutes until reduced and thickened.
Remove the syrup from the heat and the lemon peel and allow to cool.
Remove the hot baklava from the oven and pour the cooled syrup over the top. Let the hot baklava cool at room temperature to soak up the syrup before serving.
Recipe Notes
Cover the phyllo with a damp towelCovering the sheets of phyllo with a damp towel with prevent them from drying out whilst you assemble the baklava.If the sheets tear, don't worry!You might find that some of the sheets will tear before layering them. If this does happen, don't worry, just overlap them as needed, and once baked, you won't be able to tell.Cooling the syrupLet the syrup cool down before pouring it over the baklava. It should be at a lukewarm temperature.Sweet syrupIf the syrup is too sweet for your liking, you can reduce the amount of sugar you add or add a tablespoon of lemon juice as well as the peel to balance the sweetness.