"Cranberry Almond Baklava-Cheese cake" Cups

As though, 'Baklava' wasn't delicious by itself.....I bundled it up with cheese cake topping:))
It got a whole new look and flavor in these pretty cups of Crunchy filo dough cranberry-almond-pistachio baklava topped with a cheese cake like topping!!! I bet..you can't stop eating these beauties!!

How to make Cranberry-Almond Baklava:
Ingredients:
15 Filo cups
1/3 Cup Almonds
1/3 cup dried cranberries chopped finely
1/4 Cup Pistachios
1tbsp Honey
1tbsp butter melted
1tsp lemon juice
1/4tsp cinnamon powder
1/4tsp lemon zest

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 350F
2) Toast the almonds and pistachios for 5-7 mins.Don't let them brown. Chop finely after cooling.
3) Mix together chopped nuts, cranberries, honey, cinnamon, lemon juice, zest and melted butter.
4) Spoon into the filo cups and bake for 5-7 mins at 350F till the filling is heated. Let them cool completely.

Cheese cake topping:
Mix 1/2 Cup cream cheese brought to room temperature with 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk.Mix till smooth and fluffy.
Fill into a pastry bag and pipe onto the baklava cups.
Garnish with dried cranberries.

Keep the Baklava Cheese cake cups in the refrigerator till ready to serve

Baklava

Which 'Sweet' is Sweet,Crunchy,Buttery,Gooeey,Nutty...all at the same time?? And the answer is.............BAKLAVA is a 'sweet lovers' winner for sure! The variety of textures and depth of flavors it offers is just phenomenal and promises to satisfy the 'sweetest of the sweet tooth' :))

I made these for a friend, for her to take to her "International Business class about Turkey" as a treat after the presentation. It was a great 'project" for me..to estimate the cost, estimate how much each ingredient I will need to make the 50 pieces that she needed, how many pans and what size pieces to cut! All in all...It was a good brain workout:)
Ingredients:
1 lb Athens Fillo Pastry Sheets (I used 30 sheets)
1 stick unsalted butter
Butter flavored Cooking spray

Filling:

10 oz Almonds
10 oz Walnuts
2/3rd cup Sugar
1tsp Cinnamon powder
Zest of 2 lemons/ zest of 1 orange
1/2tsp salt
Few pieces of Pistachios for decoration

Syrup:
1.5 cups  Sugar
1.5 cups water
3/4 cup Honey
2 slices of lemon
few drops Rose essence

1) Thaw the Fillo sheets as per packet directions
2) Toast the Almonds and Walnuts separately in the oven/ microwave till slightly toasted ( 4-5 min in microwave, remove every minute and turn the nuts...otherwise they burn) Let them cool
3) In a blender pulse the nuts till coarse along with sugar, cinnamon, zest salt etc.OR chop nuts with a knife.
4) Preheat the oven to 350F
5) Brush a 8in x 12in Pan with butter or coat with butter flavored cooking spray
6) I did this pattern for assembly---(15 sheets Fillo---then nuts layer---then 5 sheets fillo---then nuts layer---and finally 10 sheets fillo) 
Details-Place1 sheet of fillo on the bottom.Spray with cooking spray/ brush evenly with butter.Repeat for the 15 sheets. Then spread half of the nuts mixture. Then place 5 fillo sheets (spreading butter in between each sheet). Then spread remaining half of nuts mixture.Then the 10 fillo sheets (spreading butter in between each sheet) and on top of the last sheet.
LIFE SAVER:  I sprayed the butter flavored cooking spray on the sheets that had broken.Spreading butter on those was really hard.
7) After the assembly, cut with a sharp knife into 30 square pieces ( 6 vertical lines by 5 horizontal lines) Place a small piece of Pistachio in the center of each piece.
8) Bake uncovered for 40 mins till golden
9) Remove from oven and let it cool uncovered for 1and 1/2 hrs
10) Syrup: Mix sugar, honey, lemon slices, rose essence, water in a pot. Bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil...boil for 10 mins. Let it cool till lukewarm
11) Pour the warm syrup on the baked Baklava. Let it soak overnight or several hours. Cut again on the same lines as  before and serve at room temperature.

Store at room temperature for upto 5 days. 

Same Filling as above in the Fillo Cups, garnished with dried Cranberry and topped with 1 tsp sugar-honey syrup

Cranberry Lemon Baklava Tarts

'A and A' had their 'house warming' party last month. A had decided a perfect "Mediterranean' menu and had planned an awesomely delicious menu of Chicken Kabobs, Biryani, Veggie skewers, Crostini (recipe coming soon) and for dessert were these "Sweet, crunchy, tiny and prettiest little "Cranberry Lemon Baklava Tarts"

They were sweet and tart from the honey and cranberries,nutty from the walnuts, crunchy from the Filo Cups, lemony from the lemon juice and topped with smooth sweet and tangy Greek yogurt....a heaven in one bite. It was such a 'light and refreshing' dessert after the meal!!!
A had forwarded me the recipe and I gave it a try...and the results were delightful and tasty!!
Here is the link to the recipe:
http://baking.about.com/od/cranberries/r/Cranberry-Lemon-Baklava-Tarts.htm
I pretty much followed the recipe and made these tiny mouthfuls of delicious and light dessert!

"Around the World in 30 Weekends"-Weekend 4= Greece

Dish Name: Baklava Cups


Baklava is the most famous of the Greek pastries, and every area of Greece - and sometimes every family within a region has their own version.
Baklava is a pastry made of layers of phyllo dough filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.
When I decided to take on the project of making Baklava, I decided to take on the ‘short and easy’ route. I thought, a newbie like me, should start by making this ‘easier’ version and then once I master it, try to take on the ‘authentic’ recipe.
I had seen this recipe on Food network in Sunny Anderson’s show. She uses Phyllo dough cups instead of the phyllo dough sheets. Since last week, I had been searching for Phyllo dough cups, but none of the grocery stores carried them. They said they will only stock those in ‘holiday season’ beginning end of October. But yesterday, to my ‘good luck’ I found those in TOPS and hence could plan my trip to Greece this weekend! Another reason to try our this recipe on this weekend was...if it turns out good...I can make it for upcoming Diwali! Just another 'Sweet' addition to all the other Diwali spread!

Here is Sunny Anderson's Recipe:
Ingredients :•1/2 cup pistachios
•1/2 cup walnuts 1/2 cup almonds 1 lemon, zested
•1/4 cup, plus 3 tablespoons sugar
•2 tablespoons butter, melted
•1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 boxes mini filo shells, 15 shells each
•1/2 cup water 1/4 cup honey

Method:Special equipment: 2 (12-cup) mini cupcake pans, food processor
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pistachios, walnuts and almonds on a baking sheet and toast in oven until golden and fragrant, about 8 minutes.
2) Let nuts cool slightly and add to a food processor along with the lemon zest, 3 tablespoons of sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla and pulse to combine.
3) Place mini fillo shells in wells of 2 mini cupcake pans. Add 1 teaspoon of the nut mixture into each shell. Bake until filling is hot, about 10 minutes.
4) Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat add the water, 1/4 cup sugar and honey and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until reduced and slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes.
5) Pour 1 teaspoon syrup into each cup and allow it to soak in, then repeat with another teaspoon.
6) Refrigerate at least 5 hours, or overnight. ( I do not know why this has to be done? But I chilled mine anyways!!)
My Variations:
1) Used regular muffin pans instead of mini (Because I did not have the mini muffin pan)
2) Used cashews along with other nuts
3) Used orange zest instead of lemon zest
4)Did not add any butter to the nut mixture (counting calories you see!)
5) Did not add vanilla extract (the recipe already had other strong flavors like cinnamon, lemon/orange zest so decided to leave out vanilla)
6) Would add only 1tsp of honey-sugar syrup to the cups.2 tsp turned out little too sweet.
7) Garnished with orange zest