Albanian Baklava

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9×13 glass pan. Finely chop the nuts and toss them with the cinnamon and set aside.

Unroll phyllo dough and cover with a damp towel while working so that it does not dry out.

Cover the pan with two layers of the phyllo dough then thoroughly brush with melted butter. Continue this pattern until you have a base layer of 8 sheets of dough. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of the nut mixture on top.

Layer with 2 sheets of dough again, brush with butter, and then top with 2-3 tablespoons of nuts. Continue this process of layering until you use everything up. Make sure that for the top layer you have about 6 sheets of phyllo dough with butter in between every two but no nuts, like you did the base layer.

Once you are done layering, make sure you brush the top with melted butter and use a sharp knife to cut into diamond-shaped pieces. An easy way to do this is to make four long rows lengthwise and then do diagonals across.

Bake for about 50 minutes until golden and crisp.

While baking. prepare the syrup. Boil the sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add the vanilla and honey and simmer for 20 minutes.

Immediately after removing the baklava from the oven, spoon the syrup over it. Leave it uncovered because it will get soggy if covered.