How To Make The Best Baklava Recipe - Natasha's Kitchen

Hey everyone, it's Natasha of natashaskitchen.com and today we're making a homemade baklava. Find out why this is one of the most popular recipes for baklava online. It has the perfect balance of sweetness with the lemon countering the honey. It is amazing, definitely a reader favorite and you all are gonna love it. I always start with the syrup because it needs time to cool. Combine 3 4ths cup water, one cup sugar, half a cup of honey and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Bring that to a boil and once the sugar melts, reduce the heat and simmer for four minutes. Take it off the heat and set it aside. Finely chop one pound of walnuts or pulse them 10 times in a food processor. Add one teaspoon of cinnamon and stir to combine. I have a one pound box of store-bought phyllo dough. Thaw according to package instructions then leave it at room temperature for one hour before working with the dough. Trim the dough to fit your baking pan. Now you'll need a damp but not wet kitchen towel to keep the pastry covered at all times because it can dry out quickly. Butter your baking pan then start layering your first 10 pastry sheets, buttering each one as it goes into the pan. Also, now's a great time to preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. I'll be the first to admit, buttering the sheets is a little tedious but it's so worth it in the end. Once the first 10 sheets are in, sprinkle 3 4ths cup of your nut mixture evenly over the top. Now add five more phyllo sheets, buttering each one, then 3 4ths cup of nut mixture and repeat that process of five sheets and nuts four times. Finally, we top it with our last 10 sheets of phyllo dough, again, buttering each one. Cut the baklava into four rows then slice diagonally to create beautiful diamond shaped pieces. Bake these in the center of your oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour and 15 minutes. Just as soon as the baklava is out of the oven, spoon your cooled syrup over the hot pastry. It'll sizzle as it absorbs the syrup. Now it's important to let the baklava sit for four to six hours or overnight at room temperature for the syrup to penetrate and soften the layers. The baklava has had a chance to rest and now the taste test. So many options. I found that you can't go wrong picking the biggest slice, so. Here we go. Layer after layer of nutty goodness. That's what I'm talking about. Okay, and you kind of eat this like a cookie. And when you're serving it for a crowd, it looks beautiful if you drizzle the top with chocolate and sprinkle on more nuts. Here we go. I love that this is staring back at me. I am a very happy girl right now. You can really taste the honey in this, but it's perfectly balanced with the fresh lemon juice and it's surprisingly moist. You guys are gonna love this recipe. If you enjoyed this video, give me a thumbs up below. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can get all of our future videos and thanks for watching.