Yield: 12–16 servings
Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 35–45 minutes
Total: about 1¼ hours
Ingredients
For the nut filling
3 cups pecan halves — about 300–330 g
1 cup walnuts, optional — about 100 g
½ cup almonds, optional — about 60 g
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
For the closest match to the picture, use mostly pecans and skip the other nuts.
For the pastry
12–14 sheets phyllo/filo pastry
¾ cup unsalted butter, melted — 170 g
2 tbsp neutral oil, optional
For the sticky caramel syrup
¾ cup packed light or dark brown sugar — 150 g
½ cup honey — 170 g
¼ cup water — 60 ml
¼ cup unsalted butter — 57 g
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
Optional: 1 tbsp maple syrup
Optional flavoring
½ tsp orange zest
1–2 tbsp bourbon or rum
⅛ tsp ground cloves
1. Prepare the pecans
For the flavor shown in the photograph, toasting the pecans is important.
Heat oven to 350°F / 175°C.
Spread the pecans on a baking sheet.
Toast for 7–10 minutes.
Let them cool.
Keep about 1½ cups pecan halves whole.
Roughly chop the remaining pecans.
Don’t chop them too finely. You want a mixture of whole halves, large chunks, and smaller pieces.
Nut ratio
For a very nutty dessert:
70% pecans
20% walnuts
10% almonds
For the dessert pictured:
100% pecans is my recommendation for the closest appearance.
2. Make the nut mixture
Combine:
chopped pecans
whole pecan halves
flour
cinnamon
salt
Mix gently.
The small amount of flour helps absorb some of the butter/syrup and prevents the filling from becoming completely liquid.
3. Prepare the syrup
Put into a saucepan:
brown sugar
honey
water
butter
cinnamon
salt
Heat over medium heat.
Stir until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.
Bring it to a gentle simmer for about 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in:
vanilla
lemon juice
optional orange zest
optional bourbon/rum
Don’t boil the syrup aggressively. You want a thick, glossy caramel-like syrup, not hard candy.
4. Assemble
Use approximately a 9 × 13-inch / 23 × 33 cm baking dish.
Brush the bottom generously with melted butter.
Lay down one sheet of phyllo.
Brush with butter.
Add another sheet.
Brush again.
Repeat until you have about 5–6 sheets on the bottom.
Don’t worry if the sheets aren’t perfectly flat.
Add nuts
Spread approximately half of your pecan mixture over the pastry.
Drizzle a little syrup over the nuts.
Add 2–3 more sheets of phyllo, brushing each with butter.
Add the remaining pecans.
Finish with 4–5 sheets of phyllo, buttering each layer.
Brush the final layer generously with butter.
5. Create the “messy” pecan topping
This is the trick for getting closer to the photograph.
Take some additional pecan halves and press them into the top.
Then sprinkle over:
chopped pecans
a few small pieces of torn phyllo
a little brown sugar
Drizzle approximately ⅓ of the remaining syrup over the top.
Don’t completely cover the surface.
You want some pecans exposed so they roast and become dark and glossy.
6. Bake
Bake at:
350°F / 175°C for 35–45 minutes
until:
the pastry is deeply golden
the pecans are browned
the edges are bubbling
the syrup is visibly caramelized
If the top becomes dark too quickly, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
7. Add the remaining syrup
Immediately after removing the dessert from the oven, slowly spoon the remaining warm syrup over it.
You should hear a gentle sizzle.
Don’t dump all the syrup in one place.
Distribute it around the entire dessert.
Let it stand for at least 30–45 minutes.
For the sticky appearance in your photo, you can allow it to cool for about 1 hour.
ALL ABOUT THE NUTS
Pecans
Pecans are the primary nut in this recipe. They have a naturally buttery flavor and relatively high oil content, which makes them particularly good with brown sugar and caramel.
For 3 cups pecans:
approximately 300–330 g
roughly 750–900 kcal, depending on exact weight
high in unsaturated fat
approximately 20 g protein per 100 g
approximately 10 g fiber per 100 g
These nutritional numbers are approximate because pecan size and weight vary.
Whole vs chopped
Use:
½ whole pecans + ½ roughly chopped
for the appearance in your photograph.
If everything is finely chopped, the dessert will become more like a nut filling.
If everything is whole, it won’t bind together as well.
Can I use walnuts?
Yes.
Walnuts give a slightly more bitter, earthy flavor.
A good substitution is:
2 cups pecans + 1 cup walnuts.
Can I use almonds?
Yes, but almonds are firmer and less buttery than pecans.
Use sliced or slivered almonds rather than whole almonds.
Can I use peanuts?
Technically yes, but the flavor changes substantially. It becomes more like a peanut-caramel dessert.
Nut allergy
This recipe contains tree nuts. If serving someone with a nut allergy, don’t simply replace the pecans with another nut—use a nut-free recipe and consider cross-contact from baking equipment and ingredients.
How to get the exact sticky appearance
The picture has three important characteristics:
1. Large pecans
Don’t pulverize the nuts.
2. Very little dry filling
The nuts should be heavily coated with caramel/butter syrup.
3. Caramelization
Bake until the syrup bubbles and becomes dark golden.
If your finished dessert looks dry, make another small syrup:
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp water
Heat until dissolved and drizzle over the warm dessert.
Common Questions & Answers
Q: Can I make it without phyllo pastry?
Yes. You can use puff pastry, although the texture will be different.
Puff pastry gives a thicker, more buttery structure.
Phyllo gives the thin, flaky, crispy pieces visible in the photograph.
Q: Can I use store-bought caramel sauce?
Yes.
Use approximately ¾–1 cup caramel sauce instead of the homemade syrup.
However, homemade brown-sugar/honey syrup gives a more traditional baklava-like flavor.
Q: Why did my dessert become soggy?
Usually one of three things happened:
Too much syrup was added.
The pastry wasn’t baked long enough.
It was covered while still hot.
Bake until the pastry is genuinely crisp and golden.
Let it cool uncovered.
Q: Why did the pecans burn?
Pecans contain substantial natural oil and can burn quickly.
If the top becomes dark before the pastry is finished, loosely cover it with foil and continue baking.
Q: Should I use salted or unsalted butter?
Unsalted butter is preferable because you can control the salt.
If using salted butter, reduce or omit the added salt.
Q: Light or dark brown sugar?
Both work.
Light brown sugar: milder caramel flavor.
Dark brown sugar: deeper molasses/caramel flavor and darker appearance.
For the pictured dessert, dark brown sugar works particularly well.
Q: Can I prepare it the day before?
Yes.
In fact, the flavors improve after several hours.
Store at room temperature in a tightly covered container for about 1–2 days.
For longer storage, refrigerate.
Bring it toward room temperature before serving because refrigeration can make the butter/syrup firm.
Q: Can I freeze it?
Yes, preferably before adding the final syrup.
Wrap very well and freeze.
Thaw in the refrigerator, then warm in a low oven and add a little fresh syrup.
Q: How do I make it extra crunchy?
Use slightly less syrup during assembly and bake until deeply golden.
Also, toast the pecans first.
Q: How do I make it extra gooey?
Add another ¼ cup (85 g) honey to the syrup and don’t let the dessert cool completely before serving.
Q: Can I reduce the sugar?
Yes, but reducing it substantially changes the texture because the sugar is part of the syrup structure.
You can reduce the brown sugar by about ¼ cup without radically changing the recipe.
Q: What can I serve with it?
Excellent options are:
vanilla ice cream
whipped cream
lightly sweetened Greek yogurt
vanilla custard
coffee
black tea
Warm dessert + cold vanilla ice cream gives the best contrast.
Quick recipe card
Pecans: 3 cups / 300–330 g
Phyllo: 12–14 sheets
Butter: 1 cup total / 227 g
Brown sugar: ¾ cup / 150 g
Honey: ½ cup / 170 g
Water: ¼ cup / 60 ml
Vanilla: 1 tsp
Lemon juice: 1 tsp
Cinnamon: ½–1 tsp
Salt: ¼ tsp
Bake: 350°F / 175°C
Time: 35–45 minutes
Rest: 30–60 minutes
With years of experience in restaurant research and local SEO, Sara creates accurate, user-friendly guides that work for both people and search engines. Her goal is to help users go from search results to their nearest restaurant or menu choice with as few clicks as possible.
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