Instructions: ​

• Thaw a box of frozen phyllo dough in the refrigerator overnight.

• Make the sugar syrup for the baklava by combining the sugar and water in a saucepan and bringing to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and let the syrup thicken for 20-25 minutes until golden and thick. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, then cool completely and refrigerate until ready to use. You want the syrup to be cold when it's time to pour it over the baklava.

• When ready to make the baklava, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and brush a 9x13-inch baking dish with clarified butter. Unroll the thawed phyllo dough and cut to fit the pan, if needed. My 16-ounce package of phyllo dough came in 18 sheets that were 13x17-inches, so I just cut the entire stack in half so they fit, which gave me 36 sheets to work with. Really more like 33-ish since I almost always destroy a couple of phyllo sheets along the way.

• Keep the phyllo covered with a damp cloth while stacking the baklava so that it doesn't dry out. Gently lay 1 sheet of phyllo down in the bottom of the buttered pan and use a pastry brush to drizzle and brush some of the clarified butter to coat the sheet of phyllo.  Repeat with another 8-9 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing with butter each time. It's reminds me of doing modge-podge, if you have any experience with that. (My only experience with modge-podge is from Girls' Camp, but it's what I always think of when making baklava). The first couple of sheets might want to fold up on you, but once you have two layers or so, it gets easier as there is more base built for the new phyllo sheets to cling to.

• Sprinkle half of the finely ground or chopped pistachios evenly over the built up bottom layers of phyllo dough, then repeat the process with another 10 sheets of phyllo dough and clarified butter, melting the butter in the microwave if it starts to cool down too much and firm up.

• Add the remaining ground nuts, then finish assembling the baklava by creating the top layer with any remaining sheets of phyllo dough and butter. My top layer ended up being 13 phyllo sheets thick. Brush the top layer with the last of the butter.

• A step-by-step photo collage showing how to assemble Turkish baklava. 

• Use a very sharp knife to cut through the uncooked baklava in a rectangular pattern to make 36 baklava servings. Be sure to cut all the way through to the bottom layer!  Bake for 1 hour until golden brown on top and the bottom layers are cooked through. Check the baklava around 40 minutes and if it is browning too much, cover with heavy duty aluminum foil for the remaining bake time.

• As soon as the baklava is done baking, remove it from the oven and slowly pour the cooled syrup over the hot baklava, being careful as it can bubble up as the cold syrup hits the hot pan. You don't have to use all the syrup if you feel like it's too much or your baklava is too wet.  It's important to have the temperature differences though as it keeps the baklava from getting soggy, which is what happens if you pour cooled syrup over cooled baklava. Sprinkle the baklava rectangles with finely ground pistachios on top.

• Let the baklava sit for at least 1 hour to soak up the syrup.  If the baklava doesn't soak up all the syrup, don't worry too much. Like I mentioned before, most of the Turkish baklava I have had has seemed wetter than other types of baklava. Just pour off any excess syrup that doesn't get absorbed and transfer the baklava rectangles to a serving plate.