Apple Baklava Bites


It’s safe to say that Baklava is the most well known Greek dessert and apple pie is American staple. We had a few apples and some leftover phyllo sheets to use up so we thought why not combine the two? As we only had a few sheets of phyllo and were feeling a bit lazy, we rolled the phyllo into little apple baklava bites. Much quicker than folding triangles or layering sheets of buttered phyllo in a pan. Plus they’re cute and just the right size to pop in your mouth for a little sweet treat.

 


Apple Baklava Bites

Just the right size to pop in your mouth for a little sweet treat!

Vegetarian | Servings: 32  |  Difficulty: Medium | Prep: 20 min | Cook: 20 min | Total: 40 min

Ingredients:

Filling:

  • ¼ cup melted butter
  • 4 peeled, cored and finely chopped apples (we used Gala)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • ¾ finely chopped walnuts, plus some extra to sprinkle on top (optional)
  • ½ cup medium ground old fashioned oats
  • 4 sheets phyllo pastry, thawed
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for brushing assembly

Syrup:

  • ¼ cup water 
  • ¼ cup sugar 
  • 2 tablespoons honey 
  • A strip of lemon peel 
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 1 teaspoon  fresh lemon juice

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 375° degrees F.

  2. For Honey Syrup, in a small saucepan, combine water, sugar, honey, lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Stir to combine while dissolving honey and sugar. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Set aside to cool.

  3. To prepare the apple walnut filling, melt ¼ cup butter in a large pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the apples and cook until apples soften, about 5 minutes. remove from heat and sprinkle in sugar, cinnamon, ground walnuts, ground oats. Mix to combine and set aside.

  4. To assemble apple baklava bites, melt the 4 tablespoons butter in a small bowl or pot.

  5. Line a large baking sheet or 2 smaller baking sheets with parchment paper.

  6. Lay 1 sheet of thawed phyllo out on a clean counter and brush phyllo with melted butter, using a pastry brush. Lay 2nd sheet of phyllo on top of 1st sheet and brush with melted butter.

  7. Scoop apple walnut filling evenly along the bottom (counter edge side) from edge to edge, leaving a 1.5 inch edge.

  8. Fold bottom edge of phyllo over filling, then continue rolling phyllo away from you into firm cylinder. Brush with any remaining melted butter.

  9. With cylinder seam side down, use serrated knife to cut cylinder into 12 - 16 equal pieces, depending on your size presence. We did 16.

  10. Arrange on prepared baking sheet, spaced 1 inch or so apart. Repeat with 2 remaining phyllo sheets, melted butter and filling and arrange on sheet.

  11. Bake until light golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheet(s) halfway through baking.

  12. Remove from oven. While warm, drizzle and sprinkle with some finely chopped walnuts (optional) and let cool for 5 minutes.

  13. Transfer to wire rack and let cool until warm or room temperature.

Kali orexi!