This macadamia and pistachio baklava is a wonderful dessert for a group. This Mediterranean dessert, while a little time-consuming, is easy to make and worth the work. It is made with thin layers of phyllo pastry and a filling made with macadamia nuts, pistachios, and walnuts and it is drenched in an orange honey syrup.
Baklava is one of those desserts that while easy to make will take a fair amount of time to assemble. However, I have found that it is well worth the time and effort. Based on the reactions I have gotten from friends, family and even strangers you cannot go wrong with making this. While traditionally it is made with walnuts, I find that macadamia nuts and pistachios make this version of baklava special and a little extra tasty.
Table of Contents
In this recipe
The best part of this recipe is that you can grab everything at your grocery store. There are quite a few ingredients, so this recipe does take some planning, but it is simple in its construction.
Phyllo: this is a thin pastry sheet, and you can find this in your frozen food section. Be sure to start defrosting it in the refrigerator the night before.
Honey: this is going to be the base of the syrup that you will pour over the cooked baklava.
Cardamom: is a warming spice that compliments orange and pistachios very well.
Orange juice: this will complement the cloves, cardamom, and honey.
Preparing the honey syrup
One of the first things that you want to do is to make the honey syrup. It will take about 30 minutes to simmer to let the flavors develop. Once it is done cooking it will need to cool until it gets to room temperature. The reason for this is because the orange and lemon juice flavors will break down with the heat and can become bitter spoiling the flavors of the baklava.
What nuts can I use for baklava?
Baklava is traditionally made with walnuts and/or pistachios, however there are all kinds of nuts that you can use for this recipe. While I use macadamia nuts, walnuts, and pistachios, which are my personal favorite, and I have found that they make an incredible combination. You can use walnuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, chestnuts and hazelnuts. You want nuts with a mild flavor that will complement the honey and warming spices. Certain nuts like cashews and almonds will overpower a lot of the other flavors.
How do I make baklava?
With a little bit of patience and a lot of butter. All kidding aside, it is quite a simple dish to make it does take a little bit of time. The first thing you want to do is make sure that you have a damp towel, I use paper towels, to cover the phyllo dough so it doesn’t dry out. Brush a little bit of butter on the bottom of the baking dish. Then place the phyllo on top, brush with butter and keep layering phyllo and butter until you get through about 2/3 of the first roll.
Here is an important tip for working with phyllo. If you work quickly you can get through 4-5 sheets of phyllo before you want to replace the paper towel. If the phyllo dries out it will start to crack and break and not make a nice flat layer. The dough is very thin, so it won’t take much for it to start crumbling. Then once you add half of the nut mixture you are going to repeat that process again with the remaining phyllo and nut mixture.
How do I get those diamond shapes?
Once you have finished assembling the baklava you want to get a sharp knife. I like to make a little starter slice into one side of the baklava to determine how wide the columns are going to be. Then make even columns in the baklava. Then rotate the baking dish 90 degrees and make diagonal rows that cut across the columns you have already made. This will give you the classic shape for baklava.
Give it time to rest
Once the baklava is out of the oven and you have poured the honey syrup over it while still hot you want to give it time to rest. Once it comes to room temperature I like to put it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. This not only cools is but it allows the honey syrup to hold everything together and the layers of nuts and phyllo will stick nicely to each other. The premise is similar to letting a pecan pie set before slicing into it.
Looking for other pastry dessert recipes?
Macadamia and Pistachio Baklava
Equipment
- Saucepan
- 9 x 13 inch baking dish
- Food processor
- Mixing Bowl
- Pastry brush
- Damp towel
Ingredients
- 1 pound Phyllo pastry defrosted
- 1 cup butter unsalted melted
Nut mixture
- 6 ounces pistachios shelled
- 6 ounces macadamia nuts
- 6 ounces walnuts
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- ½ tablespoon cardamom
Honey syrup
- 1 cup honey
- ¾ cup water
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 6 cloves whole
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, 177°C, or gas mark 4.
Make the honey syrup
- In a saucepan add the honey, water, ¾ cup sugar, and cloves. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Add the lemon and orange juice and remove the whole cloves.1 cup honey, ¾ cup water, ¾ cup sugar, ¼ cup orange juice, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 6 cloves
Prepare the nut mixture
- In a food processor add the walnuts, macadamia nut, pistachios, ¼ cup sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Pulse until all the nuts are finely chopped but have not turned into a paste. Pour into a mixing bowl and set aside.6 ounces pistachios, 6 ounces macadamia nuts, 6 ounces walnuts, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, ½ tablespoon cardamom
Assemble the baklava
- Open and gently unroll the first tube or phyllo dough. Gently place the damp towel on top to prevent the phyllo from drying out.1 pound Phyllo pastry
- Brush a small amount of butter onto the bottom of your baking dish. Fold back the towel and place a sheet of phyllo on the bottom. Gently brush the sheet with the melted butter using only a small amount. Place another sheet of phyllo on top. Repeat the butter and phyllo layers until you use up 2/3 of the sheets.1 cup butter
- Scoop out half of the nut mixture and gently spread it over the phyllo. Top with another layer of phyllo dough and use the remaining sheets of the current role. Unwrap and unroll the second tube and continue to layer the dough with butter until you finish about 1/3 of that phyllo. Be sure to cover the phyllo occasionally with the towel to prevent the dough from drying out.
- Sprinkle the remaining nut mixture on top and spread it out evenly. With the remaining phyllo and butter alternate the butter and phyllo until you have used the remaining phyllo.
- With a sharp knife cut diamonds into the baklava. The easiest way is to cut column in one direction and the cut diagonal rows to make the classic shape.
- Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown, remove the baklava from the oven and pour the honey syrup directly onto the baklava while it is still hot.
- Allow to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least an hour.
Nutrition
I make this for my Greek friends and they cannot get enough.