Tyropites Cheese Pastries Recipes

TIROPETES

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Gradually stir in the hot milk so that no lumps form. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens enough to coat a metal spoon. Season with salt and white pepper, remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
• When the sauce is cooled, stir in the feta cheese, egg yolks, Monterey jack cheese, 3 tablespoons melted butter and parsley.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Cut the sheets of phyllo dough into strips about 3 inches wide. Use one stack at a time, covering the rest with a damp towel to keep them from drying out.
• Lay out one piece of phyllo at a time. Brush with butter, and place about 1 teaspoon of the cheese mixture on one end. Fold one corner up to match the other edge. Continue folding in triangle shape until you reach the end of the strip. Place on a baking sheet, and continue with the remaining strips of dough.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. These can also be prepared ahead of time, and frozen after folding. Bake when ready to serve.

GREEK CHEESE PASTRIES (TIROPITES)

Steps:

• Mix together the cheeses, eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cut the phyllo sheets crosswise into 3 rectangles. Place a rectangle on a work surface and gently brush with melted butter. Place 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the cheese mixture in one corner.
• Fold the rectangles in half lengthwise to cover the cheese mixture.
• Fold the corner with the cheese mixture diagonally to make a point, and continue folding and rolling the triangle until the entire piece of dough is wrapped around the filling.
• Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. (The tiropites may be frozen at this point and baked directly from the.
• freezer.).
• Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and brush with melted butter.
• Bake in a preheated 425F oven until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

TYROPITES (CHEESE PASTRIES)

Steps:

• Crumble feta cheese into a bowl.
• Add cottage cheese, parsley and eggs and beat together with fork until well blended.
• Season with pepper.
• Cut fyllo pastry down the longest length into 2 3/4-inch strips.
• Take 1 strip and cover other strips with damp tea towel.
• Brush strip with olive oil and put a heaped teaspoon of the cheese mixture on the bottom left-hand corner.
• Fold over the corner with the filling so it meets long side edge and forms a triangle.
• Continue folding the filling up and over from side to side to form a neat triangle.
• Place on an oiled baking tray and brush with oil.
• Continue with the rest of the fyllo pastry and mixture is used.
• Bake in preheated oven 375 degrees for 15 minutes until golden brown.
• Serve hot.

TIROPITA

Steps:

• Melt 6 tablespoons butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Gradually pour in the milk, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. Add the salt and nutmeg, stirring occasionally, until mixture is bubbly and thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Mash the feta cheese with a fork in a bowl and stir in the grated kefalotiri, beaten eggs, and parsley. Pour in the hot white sauce and mix well.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Line the buttered baking dish with a sheet of phyllo dough and brush it with melted butter; keep the remaining phyllo sheets covered with plastic wrap while you work. Repeat with half of the phyllo sheets, brushing each sheet with butter, and letting them come up the sides of the baking dish. Pour in the cheese filling.
• Lay the remaining pastry sheets on top of the filling, brushing each with butter. Brush the top of the last sheet with butter and, with a sharp knife, score the top sheets into strips about 3 inches wide from one end of the baking dish to the other.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the pastry is golden brown and crisp, about 45 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut into squares and serve hot.

ZEKE'S TYROPITAS

Steps:

• Make the filling:
• Fold together the cheeses, eggs, parsley, and salt and pepper in a small bowl.
• Assemble the tyropitas:
• For every 6 turnovers, you should use 2 layers of phyllo, liberally brushing each layer with melted butter. To assemble, start at the shorter end of the phyllo rectangle and cut into 6 even strips. Beginning at the far left lower corner of each strip, place 1/2 teaspoon of filling, and like folding an American flag, begin making right-angle turns until you have reached the end of the strip and you have a triangle-shaped pastry. Brush the turnovers liberally with butter and place them on wax paper. When all the triangles have been made, place them between layers of wax paper in a box or snap-top container and freeze. They can also be baked and eaten right away.
• Preheat your oven to 400°F, and bake the pastries for 12 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet (they already have enough butter). If they have been frozen they can go directly from the freezer to the oven for 20 minutes. They will be a pale golden color and very hot inside, so be careful with the first bite!
• Phyllo Dough
• Working with phyllo dough can be a frustrating experience if you ignore one important rule: Always defrost the dough slowly, overnight in your refrigerator. If you try to rush it you will lose half a box to sticky layers. Always keep the phyllo covered with a dry kitchen towel while working with it and brush layers liberally with melted butter.