Baklava recipes often have leftover, torn scraps of phyllo dough, so this baklava pie or tart recipe is the perfect dessert for leftover phyllo dough!
Phyllo Dough Is Messy
How many times have you opened a box of store-bought phyllo dough only to find many of them are stuck together, rip when pulling them apart, or tear easily when brushing with melted butter.
I could have opened a bakery with all the leftover phyllo dough that ended up in the trash throughout my life. Not anymore!
This phyllo dough recipe makes the perfect open-faced pie crust or tart base for a delicious dessert or savory pie.
Baklava Lovers This Recipe Is For You
What’s not to love about a sweet pastry from the Middle East?
Having grown up with a Syrian mom, we always made phyllo or ‘filo’ pastry desserts during a holiday season.
However in recent years, busy years, I have placed many a modern twist on the old-world techniques I grew up with, in search of an easy recipe anyone could make, would want to make; and that is what I have created for you right here!
Hate Working With Layers Of Phyllo Dough?
Phyllo sheets can be a nuisance to work with.
Sometimes I luck out and find a brand that provides a perfect sheet of phyllo with every sheet, but not often.
Having grown up making sheet pans, after sheet pans of homemade baklava, the technique never got any easier.
On a clean work surface, one sheet of phyllo dough at a time would be worked with while the remaining pile was covered with a damp towel for fear of them drying out.
Moving quickly and carefully as I brushed melted butter, nut filling placed on top, and then more buttered layers to follow, is truly a labor of love.
What makes working with phyllo dough so tedious is that this traditional pastry is as thin as tissue paper; rip, tear, stick together.
What To Do With Remaining Phyllo Dough
This idea to work with leftover dough first came to me when I was creating recipes for My Muffin Madness cookbook.
Having tossed leftover and torn pieces of phyllo dough in a large mixing bowl with melted butter, I was able to line a muffin tin with the strips of phyllo pastry sheets, pour the custard batter in and bake.
The result was a unique crisp crust to a muffin with lots of delicious flavors baked inside.
A drizzle of rose water flavored sugar syrup across the tops after baking and I had created an exotic treat in the form of a muffin, calling them my Rosewater Baklava Muffins.
And so with this same concept, I created a baklava tart!
It’s as easy as pressing the buttered strips (torn or cut), of leftover phyllo dough into the bottom of a springform pan, pile filling in, bake and drizzle simple syrup or honey across the top.
This technique is the perfect make-ahead dessert!
Hello Baklava Apple Tart
While this leftover phyllo tart shell makes for delicious dessert tarts, it is also perfect to use as an easy pie crust for savory fillings, like Spanakopita filling, or a favorite quiche.
However, being in create mode when autumn arrived, I leftover phyllo dough scraps to good use by making a walnut and apple tart, which I call my Apple Baklava!
Instead of brushing honey across the top once baked, a delicious option is to brush the top with maple syrup! Oh Yeah!!
Shredded phyllo dough with melted butter is used to press into the bottom of a springform pan, however a layer of this buttery pastry can be placed across the top of the apple filling before baking, to encase the apple custard.
Interested In A Mini Baklava Tart?
If you’ve ever purchased mini phyllo tart shells from a freezer section of your grocery store, you too might wonder as I did, if these little shells came about because of leftover phyllo sheets at the factory that didn’t come out quite right.
These little mini tart shells make for an even faster baklava tart, since the tart shell just gets filled and baked.
I used this same recipe for my baklava tart, to make the filling for the mini tart shells, placing a few chopped walnuts on top before baking, and a drizzle of honey syrup after they are baked.
Mini Baklava Tarts make the perfect hor d’oeuvre dessert, or lots of easy individual tarts to keep on hand for the family.
Equipment Needed
- Springform Pan – 7 or 9 inch pan
- Food processor or blender
- Basting brush
- Sharp knife
- Measuring cup and spoons
- Small saucepan
- Stovetop and oven
Ingredients Needed
- Leftover phyllo sheets
- Butter
- Walnuts
- Sugar
- Mace, powdered spice
- Cardamom or cinnamon
- Salt
- Egg whites
- Honey
- Orange blossom water or vanilla
Leftover Phyllo Dough Easy Baklava Tart Recipe
Equipment
- Springform pan
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups Phyllo sheets shredded
- 4 tbsp Butter melted
- 16 oz Walnuts or nut of choice
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Mace powdered
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom or cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 4 Egg whites
- 1 tbsp Orange peels grated
- 1 tbsp Orange juice
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 1/2 tsp Orange blossom or vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325Brush a little of the melted butter along the inside of the springform pan.
- With a sharp knife, slice the phyllo dough into thin strips. In a large mixing bowl, place the shredded sheets of phyllo dough, drizzle the melted butter over the pile, toss gently and transfer to the prepared springform pan. Pat down the dough or press with the back of a spoon, until if forms a firm tart base in the pan, bringing it up the sides of the pan by about 1/2 inch.
- In the bowl of a food processor, place the walnuts, sugar and spiced. Blitz a few times to crush the walnuts into a flour. Add the egg whites, orange rinds, extract and orange juice and blitz again to blend.
- Pour the baklava pie filling into the prepared tart crust. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the crust looks golden and filling is firm.
- Place the honey in a small saucepan, along with the orange blossom water or vanilla extract. Place over low heat just long enough to melt the honey and blend the extract into the honey. Do not boil.
- Spread the warm honey across the top of the baked baklava tart. The tart is best served at room temperature.
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.