This is another recipe from my Papou! It's a Greek savory cheese pie called Tiropita, and its wonderful. It's made with phyllo dough, the pastry used in baklava! The mixture of textures from the flaky, crunchy phyllo dough and the creaming cheese is absolutely divine. It's almost like a savory version of cheesecake, if you can imagine that. It's commonly made in a triangle shaped version with the cheese wrapped in the phyllo, but my Papou's recipe said to make it in more of a pie form, so I listened! Straight from my Papou's recipe book - rich, crispy, cheesy goodness!
Tiropita
Makes 8-10 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, softened
16 oz ricotta cheese
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
8 oz phyllo dough, thawed
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1. Melt butter in
a bowl. In a separate bowl mix cream cheese, ricotta, salt, and eggs.
2. Carefully unroll phyllo dough. Wet and ring out a dish towel and lay
over phyllo dough. Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.
3. Uncover phyllo dough and peel one layer away. Lay sheet of phyllo in
casserole dish. Cover unused stack of phyllo with damp towel immediately. Brush
phyllo dough with melted butter. Repeat for 8 sheets of phyllo dough.
4. Pour cheese mixture on top of phyllo dough layers. Repeat phyllo layering process for 8 more sheets on top of the cheese mixture. Brush the top
layer with melted butter. Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Cut into individual
servings and enjoy!
Mix ricotta cheese, cream cheese, salt, and 3 eggs. Every other tiropita recipe I looked at online had feta cheese in it but my Papou's recipe didn't. But I dare not question the wisdom that is written in front of me! I followed his recipe exactly and it turned out beautifully. Maybe some other time I will experiment with some feta in the mixture!
Unroll the phyllo dough VERY CAREFULLY. It is extremely delicate.
Place a damp paper towel over the phyllo dough. It dries out very quickly because the sheets are so thin. This will help keep it from cracking! Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
Uncover the phyllo dough and gently peel a single layer off and place it into the casserole dish.
Immediately cover the unused phyllo dough with a towel again! It will crack quickly if you don't.
Repeat the layering process until there are 8 layers.
Fill with the cheese mixture!
Add another 8 layers of phyllo dough on top with the same layering process as before.
Does it get much better than
cheese and pastry and butter?! I don't think so. Melt in your mouth filling
with delicate flaky pastry - I could eat this every day. I would weigh 12949135
lbs, but I really wouldn't mind eating this every day of my life :P
Your new style baklava is looking so charming. I also become amazed when i taste the real baklava this are just awesome. If you didn't taste the flavor of this yummy then you should go baklava delivery here you'll get all amazing and tasty baklava in a cheap rate.
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