Here’s an easy baklava recipe to get that signature flavor without too much effort: baklava bites! They’re easy to whip up using purchased phyllo dough.

Easy baklava recipe | phyllo cups

Here’s an easy baklava recipe inspired by our trip to Greece, a fresh take on that crunchy, honey-and-pistachio filled pastry the country is known for. We were looking for something a little different so instead of making baklava outright, we turned the phyllo dough into cups and placed the honey nut filling inside. They were just what we hoped: sweet and crispy, a bit of Greece in a bite or two.

How to make this easy baklava recipe

Since we had phyllo dough (or, filo dough) on hand for another recipe concept that flopped, I decided to try my hand at making mini phyllo cups for this easy baklava recipe. You can also buy them prepackaged, but phyllo dough is usually easier to find. If you’ve never worked with it, phyllo dough (or filo dough) is paper-thin sheets of pastry dough that are assembled with a thin layer of butter. The dough is available at most grocery stores.

It took a bit of effort to assemble it into phyllo cups for this baklava recipe, but it’s not too difficult and likely more economical than buying pre-made cups. I botched the first batch, but got it down by the second and third round. If you give it a try, just remember that phyllo dough is pretty delicate, so handle with care. The basic idea is to laminate together the layers of the phyllo dough with butter, cut them into small rectangles, and then push them into mini muffin cups. Then just bake for 10 minutes until golden.

Making these phyllo cups is truly the most labor intensive part of this easy baklava recipe. After that it’s smooth sailing: simply chop walnuts and pistachios, mix them with honey and cinnamon, and place them into the phyllo cups. Then bake for about 10 minutes until toasted. If you’d like, drizzle with just a bit of extra honey to make sure it’s extra gooey!

Easy baklava recipe | phyllo cups

Also, outside of this easy baklava recipe, happy July 4 weekend! We spent ours in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis visiting with family and friends, staying close to home this time since we’ve been out of town a fair amount recently. We can’t believe it’s July already! Our professional lives have been a little less crazy since the winter, so we’ve actually had time to do indulgent things like read novels (we both read Gone Girl – any thoughts, readers?), and start working on random house projects, along with time in the kitchen developing recipes.  What have you been up to this summer?

Looking for easy Greek recipes?

Outside of this easy baklava recipe, here are some of our favorite easy Greek recipes:

This easy baklava recipe is…

Vegetarian.

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Easy Baklava Recipe: Baklava Bites


  • Author: a Couple Cooks
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 12 cups 1x

Description

Here’s an easy baklava recipe to get that signature flavor without too much effort: baklava bites! They’re easy to whip up using purchased phyllo dough.


Ingredients

Scale

For the phyllo cups

  • 5 sheets phyllo dough*
  • 1 tablespoon butter

For the baklava bites

  • ½ cup walnuts
  • ½ cup pistachios
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 3 tablespoons honey, plus more for serving
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of kosher salt
  • 12 phyllo cups (above, or purchased)

Instructions

  1. Make the phyllo cups: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Melt the tablespoon butter. On a clean workspace, place 1 phyllo sheet, taking care to handle it delicately. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the top with butter. Carefully place the next sheet on top of the first sheet (as exact as possible), smooth it out, and brush the top with butter. Repeat for all 5 sheets, brushing the top sheet with butter as well.
  2. With a pizza cutter, cut the large piece of layered phyllo dough into 12 rectangles by cutting the long side into 4 even strips and the short side into 3 even strips (trim off rough edges if necessary).
  3. Take each rectangle and mold it into the cup of a mini muffin tin. Bake for 10 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
  4. Make the baklava bites: Chop the walnuts and the pistachios. Melt the butter. In a medium bowl, stir together the chopped nuts, melted butter, honey, cinnamon and a pinch of kosher salt until evenly combined. Place the nut filling evenly into each cup.
  5. Bake the cups for 10 minutes, or until the nuts are fragrant and lightly toasted. Remove and drizzle with extra honey before serving. Serve immediately.

Notes

*If your phyllo dough is frozen, make sure to defrost it the night before (place it in the refrigerator, according to the package instructions). You can then remove the phyllo sheets that you need and re-freeze. To help with the phyllo dough consistency, you can also place the dough under wax paper and then a damp towel to keep it moist while working. We found either way works, but chose to simply work quickly without this added step.

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Turkish

Keywords: Easy Baklava Recipe, Baklava Bites, Baklava Recipe, Phyllo Dough, Phyllo Cups, How to Make Phyllo Cups, Filo Dough, Filo Cups

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

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10 Comments

  1. You guys are the best !!! My girlfriends and I share blogs we enjoy with each other. I’m glad I found your blog. I’m a big follower of “Smitten Kitchen” and “Cooking With Mr. C.” I will now send all of my friends your link. I’m a mother of 5 and have to keep things interesting. Bonnie L.

  2. wait can we talk about how much i love raw filo dough? is that gross?

    but also these baklava cups are genius! i have always been too intimidated to make traditional baklava… this feels way more approachable.