Pastry Phyllo Nests Recipes

HOMEMADE PHYLLO PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl and add the water with oil.
• Stir until forms soft dough, then knead in the bowl about 10 minutes.
• Dough will feel sticky at first, but kneading, it should develop into a dough that becomes smooth and satiny.
• When well mixed and smooth, wrap pastry in plastic wrap and leave it to rest at room temperature about one hour.
• If not all the dough is being used right away, wrap the unused portion and keep chilled in fridge up to a week.
• Always bring to room temp before using.
• Divide the pastry into 12 equal portions, shaping them into smooth balls.
• Cover with a cloth, except the one you're working with.
• Take a ball of dough, and shape it into a square.
• Place it on a lightly floured surface, and roll into a 6 inch square using rolling pin.
• Dust again with flour.
• Take the dowel, and place on one end of the pastry, and roll neatly onto the dowel, pressing firmly as you do so.
• Keep hands on each side of the pastry.
• Unroll the pastry and dust the work surface and pastry with a little flour, and roll up again from opposite side as before, exerting pressure as you go.
• Unroll carefully.
• After second rolling, the pastry should be about 10x12 inches.
• Using the back of your hands, place them under the pastry and stretch gently, moving hands to keep it even, working toward the edges.
• The edges can be given a final stretch with the fingertips.
• You should wind up with a pastry that's 14x18 inches in size.
• Place on a cloth, cover with wax paper and fold the cloth over the top.
• Repeat the above process with remaining dough balls, laying each on top of the previous one with wax paper between them.
• Use soon after making as they'll go sour if you keep them too long.
• If desired, you can roll them out more thinly.
• Repeating the dowel rolling process more will result in a thinner square each time.
• Phyllo can be used like a puff pastry when thicker, or it's wonderful in baklawa, lamb pastries, or many other mid eastern sweets when rolled very thin.
• In Greece, they'll often use phyllo as a crust for certain types of pies, such as spinach.

PHYLLO NESTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush a 12-cup muffin tin with butter. Pull phyllo into 1-inch-thick bundles; cut bundles into 2-inch lengths. Place in a bowl; separate into a loose pile with fingers. Toss with butter, sugar, and cinnamon, if using.
• Divide among 12 muffin cups; press into bottom and up sides. Cook until golden and crisp around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool; fill with jelly beans.

PHYLLO NESTS WITH STRAWBERRIES AND HONEY

Steps:

• Without unrolling phyllo log, cut 2 (3/8-inch-thick) slices crosswise from one end of log and thaw slices 5 minutes. (Save remaining frozen phyllo for another use.)
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Lightly brush a baking sheet with some of melted butter.
• Carefully unfurl slices from phyllo rolls on a work surface, discarding any plastic or paper rolled within. Gently separate strands, keeping them parallel, then gather into 4 groups, about 14 strands each. Cover 3 groups with plastic wrap. Gently hold one end of remaining (uncovered) group of strands and brush with some of melted butter, then dust with 1/2 teaspoon confectioners sugar using a fine-mesh sieve. Flip over and brush other side with butter and dust with confectioners sugar in same manner. Loosely coil up coated strands to form a small nest and put on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining clusters to form 3 more nests.
• Bake nests in middle of oven until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool nests on sheet on a rack, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Beat cream with granulated sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds soft peaks. Drizzle each phyllo nest all over with 1/4 teaspoon honey and put 1 tablespoon whipped cream in center. Top with strawberries and remaining cream, then drizzle each dessert with 1/4 teaspoon more honey.

PHYLLO PASTRY TRIANGLES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take 1 sheet of phyllo dough, brush it very carefully with butter. Sprinkle with sugar. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up. Cut the dough in half lengthwise. Then cut into triangle wedges. Approximately 8 pieces from each half. Place on a sheet pan, lay out triangles and bake until golden brown.

BERRY & YOGURT PHYLLO NESTS

Steps:

• Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a work surface; spritz with butter-flavored spray. Top with a another sheet of phyllo; spritz with spray. Cut into six squares. (Keep remaining phyllo covered with plastic wrap to avoid drying out.) Repeat with remaining phyllo., Stack three squares of layered phyllo in each of six muffin cups coated with cooking spray, rotating squares so corners do not overlap. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon sugar into each cup. Spritz with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack., Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the yogurt, orange zest and juice, and remaining sugar. Spoon yogurt mixture into cups; top with berries. Garnish with mint if desired.

PHYLLO NESTS

Steps:

• Cut your scraps into some semblance of strips. Gently toss your strips with melted butter. For each nest you will need about 1/2 cup phyllo strips and 2 teaspoons melted butter (don't worry about being super-exact). Fit this mix into greased muffin cups, molding it up the sides as best you can. Bake in a 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool. Fill with fruit. Or pudding.