🎄✨ Here’s a festive twist on a timeless treat — Christmas Baklava!
It’s rich, nutty, buttery, and beautifully spiced with warm holiday flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves — perfect for gifting or your Christmas dessert table.
🌟 Christmas Baklava
Serves: 16–20 pieces
Prep Time: 30 mins
Bake Time: 45–50 mins
Cooling Time: 4–6 hrs (for syrup to soak in)
🥮 Ingredients
For the Baklava:
- 1 package (16 oz / 450 g) phyllo dough, thawed
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups mixed nuts, finely chopped (use walnuts, pistachios, almonds, or pecans)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Zest of 1 orange (optional but adds a beautiful holiday touch)
For the Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3–4 strips orange peel (or zest)
🎅 Instructions
- Preheat Oven:
- Set oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Make Nut Filling:
- In a bowl, mix chopped nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and orange zest. Set aside.
- Assemble Layers:
- Unroll phyllo sheets and cover them with a damp towel so they don’t dry out.
- Place one sheet in the dish, brush lightly with melted butter.
- Repeat this with 8–10 layers of phyllo, brushing each with butter.
- Sprinkle about 1/3 cup of nut mixture evenly over the top.
- Continue layering: 5 more sheets buttered, more nuts — repeat until all nuts are used.
- Finish with 8–10 layers of buttered phyllo on top.
- Cut Before Baking:
- Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava into diamonds or squares before baking.
- Bake:
- Bake for 45–50 minutes, until golden and crisp.
- Prepare Syrup:
- While baklava bakes, combine water, sugar, honey, cinnamon stick, and orange peel in a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer 10 minutes until slightly thickened.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool slightly.
- Combine:
- Once baklava comes out of the oven, immediately pour warm syrup evenly over the hot baklava.
- Let it cool completely (at least 4 hours, preferably overnight) before serving.
💫 Optional Christmas Touches:
- Sprinkle the top with crushed pistachios, dried cranberries, or gold sugar sprinkles before serving.
- Add a splash of orange liqueur or rose water to the syrup for a festive aroma.
❤️ Storage:
- Keeps for up to 2 weeks covered at room temperature.
- Don’t refrigerate — it can make the phyllo soggy.
