Mini Baklava Cups
Mini Baklava Cups taste like authentic baklava but are so much easier to make. No layering butter over phyllo leaves and slaving over the stove for the perfect syrup!
Baklava is a popular Mediterranean dessert with spiced nuts and a cinnamon orange honey syrup enveloped between buttery, flaky layers of phyllo dough. The origin of baklava is hotly contested, but it is claimed by the Turks, Greeks, Albanians, and Lebanese cultures.
Baklava is served during the holidays for desserts, weddings, baptisms, and Easter.
While I have made traditional baklava many times, it is quite labor-intensive and I reserve the task for Christmas baking, rather than Thanksgiving where we have so many other desserts.
Baklava cups, however, are incredibly easy to make because of the ingenious invention of the mini phyllo cups! They are also a perfect addition to your Thanksgiving dessert table!
What kinds of nuts are in Baklava?
While baklava is traditionally made with walnuts, I prefer a mixture of nuts in my recipe. I like to also use pistachios, pecans, walnuts, and whole almonds for a crunch. Use whatever nuts you like or have on hand.
The syrup is what makes baklava unique. It's not just honey, instead, it's made from honey, orange, lemon, cinnamon, and star anise, which infuses the baklava with amazing flavors. The syrup takes about 10 to 15 minutes to thicken to the proper consistency and it must be cooled before adding it to the hot baklava cups.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 2 slices of fresh orange
- 15 Signature SELECT mini phyllo shells
- 1 cup nuts, chopped (¼ cup walnuts, ¼ cup pistachios, ¼ cup pecans and ¼ cup whole almonds)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
How to Make Baklava Cups
Preheat the oven to 350
Combine the granulated sugar, water, lemon juice, orange slices, cinnamon stick, and 2 star anise in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes until the syrup is thick.
Remove from the heat and allow the syrup to cool slightly.
In a food processor, combine the nuts and the ground cinnamon. Pulse until the nuts are chopped, but not finely ground - you want some texture to the nuts.
Place the mini phyllo cups on a baking sheet and using a teaspoon scoop, add 1.5 teaspoons of nut mixture to each phyllo cup.
Bake the phyllo cups for 10 minutes until golden brown and toasted.
Immediately add 1 ½ teaspoons of honey to each phyllo cup once they come out of the oven. Allow the phyllo cups to absorb the honey and soak it in for a few hours before serving.
Baklava Cups
Ingredients
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 2 slices of fresh orange
- 15 mini phyllo shells
- 1 cup nuts chopped (¼ cup walnuts, ¼ cup pistachios, ¼ cup pecans and ¼ cup whole almonds)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Combine the granulated sugar, water, lemon juice, orange slices, cinnamon stick, and 2 star anise in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes until the syrup is thick.
- Remove from the heat and allow the syrup to cool slightly.
- In a food processor, combine the nuts and the ground cinnamon. Pulse until the nuts are chopped, but not finely ground - you want some texture to the nuts.
- Place the mini phyllo cups on a baking sheet and using a teaspoon scoop, add 1.5 teaspoons of nut mixture to each phyllo cup.
- Bake the phyllo cups for 10 minutes until golden brown and toasted.
- Immediately add 1 ½ teaspoons of honey to each phyllo cup once they come out of the oven. Allow the phyllo cups to absorb the honey and soak it in for a few hours before serving.
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