Greek Baklava Bites

I always see recipes saying how hard Baklava is to make, I am here to tell you it is as easy as 1, 2, 3! Using only 7 ingredients and I'm including water in that list. The real key to the most delicious Baklava is to use Real Butter and Real Honey (honey you love to eat all by itself).

Tools :

• Cutting Board
• Knife
• Bowl
• Pan to melt butter
• Pastry Brush
• Measuring Cups
• 2 Kitchen Towels
• Cupcake Tins

Ingredients:

• 1 Package of Phyllo Dough (can be found in the frozen section of most supermarkets)
• 1 cup of chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 Tbs. of Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest* (completely optional or you could also use lemon zest)
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1 cup Honey
• 1 cup Water

This recipe makes 24 Baklava Bites, if you have two cupcake tins then you are lucky indeed. But if you are like me and only have one tin, you will need to place the leftover phyllo in the fridge while the pastries cool (more information in Step 5)

The night before you make the Baklava, place the Phyllo Dough in the Refrigerator to defrost. If you forget place it outside on the counter for about 2 hours before you start to cook.

Note: You can use any type of Nuts, I normally use Walnuts, but as you can see in the picture this time I used Cashews. I also like Pistachios or Almonds, really it is completely up to you!

1. Chop the nuts real fine, if you have a food processor you can use that as well.
2. Combine the 1 cup of nuts with 1/2 cup of sugar
3. Mix in the Tablespoon of Cinnamon and the zest of the Orange*

Mix your nut mixture well and set aside.

Next slowly melt a 1/2 cup of Butter in a small saucepan over low heat until melted through.

Prepare the Phyllo Dough by dampening 2 clean kitchen towels, place one on your work surface, place a sheet of parchment paper on top this helps keep the dough from sticking to the towel. Unroll your phyllo dough on top of the the parchment, add another piece of parchment and the other damp kitchen towel on top. (Keep any phyllo covered with the towels when you are not working with them, this is a pretty quick process and after you do this the first time the next time you make them, you might not even need the kitchen towels ;) wink wink.

Take the melted butter and brush on one half of a sheet and then fold in half, brush butter to the top of the the folded half, place to the side on a cutting board. Do this 2 more times, for a total of 3 folded sheets, stack on top of each other and cut into 12 squares.

Brush butter on the inside of your Cupcake tin, place one phyllo square in each spot.

Take a large spoonful of the nut mixture you prepared in Step 2 and place on the bottom of each cup.

Take 3 sheets of phyllo and fold in half, butter the top one only and then slice in 1/2 " strips, sprinkle these strips into the nut mixture and mix around so they get covered in the nut/sugar mixture.

Grab a little handful of the strips and place on top of each baklava cup.

Repeat Step 3 and 4 if you have a second cupcake tin, other wise place your leftover phyllo in the fridge.

Place the Cupcake Tin in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

While the Baklava is baking make your Honey mixture, Mix 1 cup of water and 1 cup of Honey in a small saucepan, cook on medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently, allow mixture to boil down by half. Then set aside.

As soon as you remove the baklava from the oven, pour the honey mixture on top, this keeps the crust nice and crunchy, you will hear it hiss a little, this is a good sign.

Allow the pastry to cool down before removing the Greek Baklava Bites from the cupcake tin. You can eat them right away or store in an airtight container, they never last long enough in our household to do that.

(If you only have the one tin, you can now make the second batch of Baklava Bites, or if you prefer you can take the initial ingredient measurements and cut them in half and only make 12. This will leave you with some leftover pastry, stay tuned for more Phyllo Pastry recipes or keep it in the fridge, but for only about 2 days before you need to use it. -refer to the your package for more details)