Walnut Baklava

1. First, thaw phyllo by placing the package in the fridge overnight. Then leave it at room temperature for 1 hour before opening and using it.

For The Syrup:

1. Add all of the ingredients for the syrup in a small cooking pot or saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. When it starts to bubble, drop the heat to medium and simmer for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool down completely to room temperature.

For The Filling:

1. Mix all of the ingredients for the filling in a mixing bowl and keep it next to you.

For The Baklava:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F using ovens upper and lower heat function if possible.
2. For this recipe, you will need a 9 x 14-inch (33 x 23 cm) baking pan. You may need to cut the phyllo stack in half (or not, some packages contain two rolls of smaller-sized phyllo sheets instead of one roll) and then trim it a little bit to fit inside the pan.
3. Place the stack of phyllo in a sheet pan or on your working surface and cover it with a tea towel so it won't air-dry.
4. My stack had 24 phyllo sheets. Count the phyllo sheets so you can divide them evenly between the layers of filling. I used 5 sheets for the base then 3 sheets between each layer of filling, a total of 4 times. Then 7 sheets for the top of the Baklava. If your package has more than 24 sheets simply add one more sheet here and there it won't make a difference.
5. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then mix it with the olive oil. Keep the butter in the saucepan. Since it will take some time until you finish up with all of the Baklava layers you may need to reheat it a bit, later on.
6. Brush the baking pan with a bit of the melted butter and oil mixture.
7. Place 5 phyllo sheets in the pan and brush each one of them with melted butter.
8. Sprinkle ⅕ of the filling on top. Then add 3 more phyllo sheets again brushed with butter in between. Repeat this process until you have used all of the filling. If you are left with more than 7 phyllo sheets for the top that's perfectly fine.
9. Add the remaining sheets of phyllo on top brushing each one with butter.
10. Cut into 3 wide strips and then divide the strips into squares. Cut the squares in half diagonally to get 12 triangular pieces.
11. Pour the remaining melted butter on top and brush it to spread evenly. Sprinkle lightly with your fingers a bit of water on top.
12. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes on the lowest rack of your oven (not the bottom).
13. Ladle the cold syrup over the Baklava right as you get it out of the oven. Then leave it to cool down to room temperature before refrigerating. You can even serve it at room temperature.
14. Serve with raw honey and walnut (or chopped walnuts) on top. You may keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or at room temperature.