Make the honey-sugar syrup. Start by dissolving the sugar in boiling water and add vanilla and honey. Stir it until it's mixed well. Lower the heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool down. Once the syrup has cooled down enough, put it in the refrigerator.

Preheat your oven to 175 C / 350 F.Make the nut-cinnamon mixture.While the oven is preheating, add the nuts and cinnamon to the food processor and pulse a few times until the nuts are finely chopped.

Melt the butter.Melt the butter on the stove or in the microwave, and prepare to assemble the baklava.

Assemble the baklava.Brush the baking pan with melted butter.

Unrolling the phyllo dough, place 1/4 of the phyllo dough layer-by-layer in the baking pan and butter each layer as you go.

After you've used 1/4 of the phyllo dough, sprinkle 1/3 of the nut-cinnamon mixture on top.

Repeat until you've used all the phyllo dough and nut-cinnamon mixture. See note 2 for details.

Brush the top with melted butter.

Cut the baklava into squares or diamond shapes.

Bake the baklava.Bake the baklava for about 45 min or until golden.

Pour the syrup.After removing the Baklava from the oven, pour the cold syrup over it right away. Let it rest for at least a couple of hours but ideally overnight.

Decorate & serve the baklava.Before you serve it, use the knife to cut again along the pre-cut lines, for clean and smooth lines.

Top it with some finely chopped pistachio or other desired toppings.