This is a cheesecake with a heavy middle eastern influence: pistachio baklava cheesecake! A pistachio shortbread crust, filled with honey cheesecake, topped with baklava, and baked to perfection. With honey cheesecake on the bottom and baklava on top, this is really the best of both worlds.
Baklava Cheesecake
You’ve heard of cheesecake. You might have heard of baklava, that delicious layered pastry dessert from the Ottoman empire. This recipe combines both, resulting in a dessert that is both creamy and flaky, with a crispy honey sweetness that is absolutely delicious.
You will totally wow any guests who get to try your awesome baklava cheesecake. With a glistening honey syrup, crunchy pistachios, and creamy cheesecake, there’s a lot to love about this baklava cheesecake recipe.
Ingredients For Shortbread Crust
You will need pistachios, flour, powdered sugar, butter and salt to make this pistachio shortbread crust.
How To Make Shortbread Crust For Cheesecake
The first thing to do is make our crunchy crust. This recipe calls for pistachios, but you can use other nuts if you like.
- Place the softened butter into the bowl of your stand mixer with flat beater attachment, beat until it is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined. Then, increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.
- Add salt, flour and chopped pistachios and mix on low speed until just the dough comes together. It is important not to over mix!
- Form the crust of the cheesecake inside the prepared pan. Start pressing on the bottom and up the sides of your lightly greased springform pan. One little bit at a time, add pieces of dough, patching gently as you gently press down on the dough and evenly distribute it along the bottom and up the sides.
You can make the rest of the cheesecake while the dough chills in the freezer.
Ingredients For Pistachio Baklava
- Melted butter
- Chopped Pistachios
- Filo (phyllo) pastry
How To Make Pistachio Baklava
Now for the fun part! We’re going to make the baklava.
First, cut your phyllo pastry sheets to the same diameter as the inside of the crust. This is typically one to two inches less than the diameter of your springform pan.
You’re going to go through about 26 phyllo pastry sheets, but you’re going to have plenty of leftovers from the side trimmings. You can use the leftover pastry for other recipes if you like.
The layers of phyllo pastry circles have a pretty strict order, as follows
- 6 layers of filo dough
- ¼ cup pistachios
- 5 layers of dough
- ¼ cup pistachios
- 5 layers of dough
- ¼ cup pistachios
- 10 layers of filo dough
You should brush each circle with melted butter before you add the next on top. Refrigerate your baklava before you try cutting it, or putting it on your cheesecake.
Ingredients For Cheesecake Filling
- Philadelphia cream cheese
- Sour cream
- Eggs+egg yolk
- Honey
- Salt
How To Make Cheesecake Filling
- In a mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese with honey on medium speed until smooth.
- Add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Add the sour cream and salt, beat until completely incorporated.
- Remove the cake pan with the cheesecake crust from the freezer. Pour the filling into the pan, then carefully place the frozen baklava on top. If the baklava won't fit inside the cheesecake base, carefully trim the edges with a sharp knife.
- Bake the cheesecake for 60-80 minutes at 345°F |175 °C.
Honey Syrup
Lets's make our honey syrup. It’s easy to make, and it’s a key part of the recipe. We’ll be pouring the syrup over the baked cheesecake, over the baklava. It will need to cool to room temperature before we pour it over the hot baklava cheesecake, and making it first and then setting the syrup aside is the perfect way to do this.
Baklava Cheesecake Tips
We’ve put together some handy tips for you to get the best out of this cheesecake every time.
- You can use any nuts you want. Sweeter nuts like walnuts and almonds are usually best for desserts.
- Always brush each circle of phyllo (filo) pastry before you place the next one on top of it.
- Brushing does not mean drowning! Don’t overwhelm the pastry. Just enough butter to spread a thin layer is the perfect amount for this recipe.
- Keep your shortbread crust refrigerated or in the freezer before baking. Do the same thing with your baklava. Keeping these cold until it’s time to bake is critical for getting the right taste and texture out of this baklava cheesecake.
- We recommend baking this cheesecake for about an hour, but you should check it constantly, ensuring that it isn’t browning too quickly. Cover your crust with foil if it looks like it will overcook.
- Let each drizzle of your delicious honey syrup soak in fully before you add more.
- Don’t add hot syrup to the cheesecake! Room temperature syrup is best for this.
Cooling
Let your cheesecake cool once you’ve removed it from the oven. About five minutes should be long enough.
Remember our honey syrup? Now you’re going to pour the honey syrup over the cheesecake. Be sure to drizzle it slowly, allowing a small amount of the syrup to absorb into the baklava before you pour a little more.
Now, allow the baklava cheesecake to absorb all the syrup you’ve poured onto it, and let it cool down to room temperature before placing it in the fridge overnight.
Some of the syrup will inevitably soak into the crust, and if you’ve done this recipe right, you will have deliciously flaky syrup-infused shortbread crust. What a treat!
You can decorate the top of your cheesecake by processing pistachios in the food processor and topping the cheesecake with them. Add some sliced pecans for an extra touch.
Love Cheesecakes? Try These!!
New York Style Cheesecake Recipe
No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake Recipe
If you make this recipe be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! I will be happy to hear from you!
Baklava Pistachio Cheesecake
Ingredients
Pistachio Shortbread Crust
- ¾ cup 170 grams unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup 95 grams powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ cups 220 grams all purpose flour
- 1 cup 120 grams chopped pistachios
Pistachio Baklava
- 14 oz 400 grams store-bought filo(phyllo) dough
- 1 cup 120 grams finely chopped pistachios
- ⅓ cup 75 grams butter, melted and cooled
Honey Syrup
- 3 tablespoons 45 grams white sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup 30 grams water
- ¼ cup 50 grams honey
Honey Cheesecake
- 24 ounces 675 grams cream cheese
- ⅓ cup 125 grams honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ cup 120 grams sour cream, 15-20% fat
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Equipment
Instructions
Pistachio Shortbread Crust
- Line the bottom of an 8-inch (20 cm) pan with foil, and grease the walls with coconut oil or butter. Keep aside.
- Place the butter into the bowl of your stand mixer with flat beater attachment, beat until it is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined. Then, increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.
- Add salt, flour and chopped pistachios and mix on low speed until just the dough comes together. It is important not to over mix! Form the crust of the cheesecake inside the prepared pan, pressing the dough in small portions first to the walls and then to the bottom. Put in the freezer for at least 30-40 minutes. Do the crust a little bit at a time. Grab a little bit of dough and press it down the sides. Then grab another bit and keep patching it up, pressing it down with fingers. Make sure that the layer of the dough in all places has the same thickness – about 1 cm.
Pistachio Baklava
- Melt the butter in the microwave and let it cool down. Using an 8-inch cake ring to measure the circle and a sharp knife, cut 26 circles out of the filo dough.
- Place the first circle of the filo dough on a cutting board and brush the dough with a thin layer of melted butter. You will need about ½ teaspoon (3 grams) butter for one circle. Place the second circle on top of the first and press down lightly. Repeat the process until there are 6 layers of filo dough in the stack. Brush the 6th circle of filo dough with melted butter and then spread ¼ cup (30 grams) of chopped pistachios. Cover with 7th layer of the dough, brush with butter and repeat 4 more times. You will have 5 more layers of dough after the pistachios, stacked and buttered. The seventh circle of dough can be lightly brushed with butter on both sides so that it stuck better to the layer of chopped pistachios.
- Spread ¼ cup (30 grams) of pistachios on top of 11th layer, top with another layer of 5 sheets, all buttered and stacked.
- Finally, spread the remaining ¼ cup chopped nuts, top with 10 more layers of dough after the pistachios, stacked and buttered. In total, you should have: 6 layers of filo dough / ¼ cup pistachios / 5 layers of dough / ¼ cup pistachios / 5 layers of dough /1/4 cup pistachios / 10 layers of filo dough.
- Cover the baklava with plastic and place in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes to allow the butter to become solid and the layers of dough to stick together.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the baklava in 8 triangles, but don’t run the knife all the way down. Stop before you reach the bottom layers, so this way you can easily move the baklava to the top of the cheesecake when it’s time.
Honey Syrup
- Place all ingredients for the syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it boils, reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature.
Honey Cream Cheese Filling
- In a mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese with honey on medium speed until smooth.
- Add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Add the sour cream and salt, beat until completely incorporated.
- Remove the cake pan with the cheesecake base from the freezer. Pour the filling into the pan, then carefully place the frozen baklava on top. If the baklava won't fit inside the cheesecake base, carefully trim the edges with a sharp knife.
- Bake the cheesecake for 60-80 minutes at 345°F |175 °C. You may need to cover the baklava with foil while baking. Reduce temperature to 320°F| 160 °C if top browns too quickly. At the end of baking, the baklava should become golden brown. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and allow to cool down for about 5 minutes.
- Pour half of the honey syrup over the baklava. Wait until the syrup is completely absorbed before pouring the remaining syrup.
- Allow the cheesecake to cool down completely, then refrigerate for at least 6-7 hours before serving.
- Remove the cheesecake from the pan.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
All rights reserved. CHEF JAR. All images and content are copyright protected. PLEASE do not use my images without my permission. If you want to share this recipe, PLEASE provide a link back to this post.
Nadia says
This dessert was heavenly! The combination of creamy cheesecake and crunchy baklava layers was a dream come true. It was a showstopper at our family gathering.
Tatiana says
Thank you, Nadia! I’m so happy it wowed your family. That pistachio-baklava combo really is magic!