Baklava

A pastry of many thin layers of phyllo dough, chopped nuts and butter, soaked after baking in sweet syrup or honey.

Baklava: diamond-shaped pieces of baklava with crisp golden phyllo layers, chopped pistachios and walnuts, glistening with syrup
  • Cakes, cookies, pastries and baked goods
  • Turkey, Greece, the Middle East and the Balkans

Also called: pakhlava

Sheets of phyllo are brushed with melted butter and layered with chopped walnuts, pistachios or other nuts, then cut into diamonds or squares before baking so the syrup can soak in. Pouring cool syrup over the hot pastry, or hot syrup over cooled pastry, keeps the layers crisp.

Baklava is made across the former Ottoman lands, and recipes vary by region in the nuts, spices and syrup, which may be flavored with lemon, rose water or orange blossom water.

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Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Baklava (Q187495), Wikidata