filo dough

Make the honey drenching syrup first. It needs to reduce on the stove top for 20 minutes and then cool completely. For the cheesecake portion, I used nonfat honey-flavored Greek yogurt, but I'm sure full fat would be wonderful, too. You may also choose to use almonds or pistachios in place of the walnuts in the nut filling, or use a combination of all the above!

Baklava Cheesecake

sugar (8 oz)

water (10.7 oz)

honey (250 ml)

cinnamon

walnuts

salt

(20 oz. cream cheese,

sugar (6 oz.)

eggs (room temperature)

vanilla extract

butter (melted (4 oz.))

filo pastry

Stir together the sugar, water and honey in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 20-25 minutes until reduced and syrupy. You should have around 1 3/4 to 2 cups of liquid after cooking. This amount doesn't have to be exact, as long as you're somewhere at or in between. Remove syrup from heat and stir in cinnamon.  Let cool completely.

Syrup

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread walnuts on a baking sheet and toast for 5-8 minutes in the oven. Let cool, then place 5 oz. of the nuts in a food processor and process in quick bursts until finely chopped. You can also chop them finely with a chef's knife. Transfer the 5 oz. finely chopped nuts to a medium bowl and add 1/2 cup of the drenching syrup, salt and cinnamon. Stir together and set aside. Reserve remaining 1 oz. walnuts for later use.

Process cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sugar and vanilla extract together in the bowl of a food processor. Scrape down sides of the bowl if needed. Process until completely smooth. Add the eggs and process again. Let rest in the bowl while you prepare the filo crust.

Reduce oven heat to 325°F. Release the collar from an 8-inch spring-form pan. Tear off a sheet of parchment paper and place over the base, then re-attach the collar, allowing the baking paper to stick out the bottom edges (see photo). Place the filo sheets on a clean work surface. Working quickly, lightly brush a sheet with butter then fold in half. Lay the sheet inside the pan allowing one end of the pastry to overhang the top edge of the spring-form pan. Repeat process with 9 more sheets of filo; turn and overlap the pieces until the bottom of the pan is completely covered. Cover the remaining sheets of filo with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for later use.

Pour cheesecake batter into the prepared pan. Use a spoon to place dollops of the reserved walnut filling on top of the cheesecake batter. Some dollops will sink to the bottom, some will sit on top of the batter, so don't worry too much about this part looking perfect. The filling will create random ripples of walnut in the baked cheesecake (that's just part of the beauty). Fold the overhanging filo edges onto the cheesecake. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until the center is set. Do not remove cheesecake from the oven - turn off the oven and prop the oven door open (about 5 inches or so) and let the oven cool down completely (about 40 minutes).

Remove cheesecake from the oven and re-heat the oven to  350°F. Brush the remaining 2-4 pieces of filo dough with butter and place them in a crumpled fashion on the top middle of the cheesecake. Bake for 8-10 minutes more or until the newly added filo has turned golden. Cool to room temperature, or chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Top cheesecake with drenching syrup and remaining 1 oz. of toasted walnuts.  Place leftover syrup in a gravy boat beside the cheesecake. Refrigerate leftovers.

Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake last weekend and it was delicious and gorgeous! The crumbled baklava on top was the perfect addition. The crispy texture added a wonderful element. My guests wanted more of them. Fortunately, I had made baklava with the extra nut filling and pastry. 
My only concern was that the pastry wrapping the cake never got crispy. I had to make it the day before so it became even soggier. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this problem?

[spoiler title="Absolutely Beautiful! "]  [/spoiler] 

Made this tonight, and it’s gorgeous! Can’t wait to slice, and serve it tomorrow.

These delicious apple turnovers with phyllo dough are crunchy, flaky, buttery, and filled with warm, tender apples!

Apple Turnovers With Phyllo Dough

(15 grams) unsalted butter

vanilla

cornstarch

water

phyllo

½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter

In a medium saucepan, combine the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Cook over medium-low heat, slightly covered and stirring every minute, until the apples are tender. This takes between 7-10 minutes, depending on your heat source.

Mix the cornstarch and the water together in a small bowl or cup to make a slurry.

Add the slurry to the apples and cook the filling until it thickens, about a minute. Take it off the heat and set it aside to cool a bit before assembling the turnovers.

Make the filling

Preheat the oven to 375℉ / 190℃. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set it aside.

Melt the ½ cup (113g) butter.

Unroll the phyllo dough and lay one sheet of phyllo dough vertically on a flat surface (&amp; make sure to keep the remaining phyllo sheets covered with a damp kitchen towel so they don&#39;t dry out).

Drizzle the sheet with melted butter all over and quickly brush the edges. (You don&#39;t have to thoroughly brush the surface, just drizzle it.)

Fold the sheet in half vertically (longways). Then drizzle with a little more melted butter, and fold it in half again.

Starting at the bottom, add about 1 ½ tablespoons of apple filling, one inch inside from the edges of the pointed corner (see picture tutorial in post for details).

Fold the bottom edge of the phyllo sheet over the filling to form a triangle.

Then fold the entire left side to seal the filling. If the apple filling is too close to the edge and you can&#39;t fold over the left edge, just nudge the filling to the right with your fingers and then fold the left side of the phyllo dough (see picture tutorial in post for details).

Then fold the phyllo sheet, diagonally, flag-style, to form a triangle all the way to the top when you reach the end. Then place it on the prepared baking sheet.

Repeat the process for the remaining sheets and filling. Brush the tops with the remaining melted butter and bake the turnovers for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown (since ovens vary, check them after about 15 minutes, so they don&#39;t burn.)

When done, let the turnovers cool for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Assemble the dessert

Love these! They are so good with coffee! Thanks, Voula!

Top 2 filo dough recipes from across the web

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Baklava Cheesecake

Apple Turnovers With Phyllo Dough

Top 2 filo dough recipes from across the web

The most viewed filo dough recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Baklava Cheesecake

Apple Turnovers With Phyllo Dough

The most viewed filo dough recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine