Baklava

FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP:: Combine sugar, water, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, whole cloves and salt in small saucepan. Bring to full boil over medium-high heat stirring occasionally. Boil 1-2 minutes. Transfer to 2-cup measuring cup and set aside to cool. When cool, remove and discard whole cloves and cinnamon stick. FOR THE NUT FILLING: Finely chop nuts. (Be careful not to chop too finely if using food processor. It seems to work best to partially chop in food processor and finish with knife.) Add cinnamon, cloves, sugar and salt, toss to combine. Set aside. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE: Brush 13 x 9 inch baking pan (don't use non-stick) with butter. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Preheat oven to 300F. Unwrap and unfold phyllo on large cutting board. Carefully smooth with hand to flatten. If size larger than pan size, trim to size. (Pizza cutter works great.) Cover with plastic wrap, then damp kitchen towel to prevent drying. Place one phyllo sheet in bottom of baking pan. Brush with butter until lightly, but completely, covered. (Silicon type pastry brush works better than hair.) Repeat until you have a total of 8 layers. Evenly distribute about 1 cup of nut mixture over phyllo. Place another layer of phyllo on and brush with butter, as before. Repeat until you have 6 layers. Top with 1 cup nuts. Place another layer of phyllo on and brush with butter, as before. Repeat until you have 6 layers. Top with 1 cup nuts. (This is repeat of last series.) Place another layer of phyllo on and brush with butter, as before. Repeat until you have 8 layers. Don't top with butter or nuts yet. Use palms of hands to lightly compress layers and press out air pockets. Brush generous layer of butter over entire top surface (2-3 tablespoons). Cut, on the diagonal into approx. 1" diamonds. (Will be 7 cuts each way, for 8 1" strips each way.) Again, the pizza cutter works great. Top with remaining nuts (a light topping). Bake until golden and crisped, about 1 1/4- 1 1/2 hours, rotating pan half-way through the baking. Immediately after removing from oven, pour cooled syrup over cut lines until about 2-3 tablespoons remain. Drizzle this over surface. Syrup will sizzle when it hits pan.Cool to room-temperature before covering. Flavor and texture improve if let sit at least 8 hours before serving.