Walnut Baklava with Homemade Syrup Recipe | Little Spice Jar (2024)

Walnut Baklava is a holiday tradition! Layers of butter pastry loaded with ground walnuts drenched in homemade simple syrup that’s scented with orange blossom water and rose water.

Today’s post is sponsored byCalifornia Walnuts! We are using their delicious walnutsand layering them in between buttery phyllo dough to make homemade baklava.

Hiya! Question for ya!

I’ve gotbuttery layers of phyllo pastry alternating with cinnamon-scented ground walnuts that i’ve generouslydrizzled with orange blossom and rose water scented simple syrup.Now would it be okayif I shared a piece withya?

Who even says ‘no’ to homemade walnut baklava right? Not me, that’s for sure.

The sweet smells of orange blossom and rose water scented simple syrup tortures me. Mingling with toasty ground walnuts and buttery layers of phyllo. It’s a classy sort of dessert. One that I oddly grew up loving. Don’t get me wrong – I loved chocolate cupcakes smeared with frosting as much as the next kid too. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have said no to any sort of dessert. Biggest sweet tooth on the block right here. ???

There was always anabundance ofthis butterypastry loaded with ground nuts and floral notes when the colder months rolled around.Homemade baklava has been a staple in our household for a majority of my life.

So many sweet memories of buttering thin layers of phyllo with my mom on chilly winter mornings. Hot cups of chai steaming in the background, uneaten toast, the windows just starting to fog, a glistening blanket of snow just beyond it. Brushing away at the phyllo layers with melted butter. It’s almost as if time would slow down and the only thing that mattered was making perfect layers for ourbaklava.

This year for the holidays, I wanted to revisit those beautiful times. Since making walnut baklava was a such a big part of the winter holidays for me, I pitched the idea to Anees knowing full well that it probably wouldn’t fly. To my surprise, he immediately agreed. Baklava sorta has that affect on people I guess. And then there was something about how chocolate baklava needed to come next but by then I was already swooning over the thought.

And that’s when it happened;panic struck.I grew up watching my mom makebaklava(and ate loads of it too) but somehow the idea of thinphyllo alternating with nuts, without my mom watching, kinda scared me. And don’t even get me started on making simple syrup! So I did what anyone would do. I called my mom. Frantically asked for every tip she had and she assured me I could do it. She even offered to baby sit because I insisted on finally doing it all by myself. Moms are just the best, aren’t they? Besides, this was the year I told myself I’d do 30 things on my culinary bucket list I hadn’t done before. Times atickin’,Sochecking another one off the list was priority.

This walnut baklava recipe is a combination of a few things like my moms baklava recipe and my favorite bakery’s take on it. They have a more middle eastern style of simple syrup where it’s spiked with orange blossom and rose water. I expect a huge thank you note for the gloriousfloral aromas coming from your kitchen.

The first step is to make thesimple syrup. You need two parts sugar to one part water, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a couple tablespoons of honey. Once it reaches a boil, you’ll lower the heat and let it just simmer away for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the syrup. You don’t want the flavoringsto cook so be sure to do this step off the flame.

The next thing we’re going to do is make the nut filling. You’re going to melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan or the microwave in a small bowl while you combine the California Walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Drizzle in the melted butter and stir. You’ll be left with something that looks almost like a crumb topping or streusel.

The most laborious part about making baklava is making the phyllo layers and buttering them.But if you’re anything like me, you enjoy repetitive tasks like these as they really give you a chance to just relax and let your mind wander.

You’ll start by buttering each layer of phyllo. A total of 10 layers then 1/5th of the nut mixer. Followed my 5 more layers of phyllo, then more nuts and more phyllo. See what I mean? It’s easy, just layering. The key is to start and end with 10 layers of phyllo to create a steady base, all the layers in between get 5 sheets.

Cut the pastry into 4widestrips, turn the pan and make diagonal cuts for that signature baklava look.

Finally,while it’s still hot and fresh out of the oven, drizzle it with that simple syrup. You can hear the syrup sizzling as it hits the pan. This keeps the baklava crispy for the first few days. It’s important to use room temperature syrup poured over hot baklava so that the phyllo stays nice and crisp.

Now the hard part, let it sit for 6-8 hours to soak up that syrup. My mom always says to let it sitovernight if possible. This really allows the syrup to be soaked up and the phyllo gets all crispy again. You can store leftover baklava loosely covered by a tea towel or in an airtight container. Note that it will start getting a little softer after the first couple of days.

Buttery layers of phyllo with ground nuts perfectly layered in between and topped with a rose water syrup.

Get on this!