Preheat the oven to 350.

In a skillet on medium heat, melt 2 tbsp butter and add nuts. Stir regularly with spatula until nuts are slightly toasted - about 7-8 minutes - and then remove from heat.

Add nuts, spices, sugar, and salt to a food processor and pulse a few times - just until nuts are in small pieces. (You don't want them to be too finely-chopped, so start slow with the pulses!)

Pour mixture into a bowl with the dried cranberries and set aside.

Melt the remaining butter, and then brush some on to coat the bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking pan.

Open one of the phyllo sheet packages (my 16oz box comes with 2 packs of phyllo sheets), and trim the sheets to fit the pan. (Cut all the sheets at once with 1 cut - removing about an inch from the length - with a pair of kitchen shears.)

Spread the phyllo dough out on the plastic it's wrapped in, fold the plastic over to cover it, and then place a couple of damp paper towels over the top. You'll want to keep it covered as much as you're able to keep it from drying out and becoming brittle.

Place one sheet of the phyllo dough on the bottom of the buttered pan, brush generously with melted butter, and repeat with 5 more sheets of phyllo (so you'll now have a layer of 6 sheets).

Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut & cranberry mixture (about 1 cup) evenly across the top. If you're adding chocolate chips, sprinkle about 1/3 of those on, too - on either one half of the pan or across the whole thing (see notes).

Top the nut mixture with another phyllo sheet, brush with butter, and repeat with 5 more phyllo sheets (so you'll now have another layer of 6 buttered phyllo sheets).

Sprinkle another 1/3 of the nut & cranberry mixture + chocolate chips and 6 phyllo sheets, continuing to brush each one with butter.

Sprinkle the remaining nut & cranberry mixture + chocolate chips, and then top with 10 phyllo sheets, one at a time, brushing each one with butter before adding the next sheet.

Using a sharp knife or a thin metal spatula, cut the layers into 24 squares, and then cut each square in half to make a triangle.

Place in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the pan is in the oven, prepare your syrup. Add syrup ingredients to a saucepan over medium heat and bring them to a slow boil, stirring regularly. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 8-10 minutes, or until the syrup has reduced a little. Set aside.

Once you remove the baklava from the oven after it's been fully baked, set the pan on a wire cooling rack, and then pour syrup all over the top of the hot baklava. Sprinkle with some chopped almonds or pistachios for a finished look.

Allow to set at room temperature - it'll take a few hours to cool. If you're impatient, you can dig in before then 😉, but the pieces will come out of the pan much more cleanly once the baklava has set and you're able to cut them out with a spatula.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days, or store in the fridge for 7-10 days. (If you know you're going to want this to last more than a few days, go ahead and store it in the fridge, just to prevent it from molding. The syrup adds a lot of moisture.)

ENJOY!