Tiropita

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!

Melt butter in a bowl. You will need a brush for the melted butter. The phyllo dough is SO delicate. I think trying to spoon the butter and spread it with anything else would probably be a bad idea.

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