Baklava tarts with berries

This recipe is downright amazing. For a start, when you tell people you’re making baklava tart for desert they will quickly squeal with glee ”I LOVE baklava!” and then you tell them it is filled with a creamy filling & topped with raspberries & honey, you now have a friend for life.

lets face it, sugar, nuts & spices are yummy…and anyone who doesn’t think so either has an allergy or is some kind of crazy & dangerous person. it’s all this crammed into a few crunchy layers of filo with berries and cream. I don’t know why I haven’t been making this for years. They’re a great edition to dinner parties and picnics as the filo cases can be made in advance & kept in an airtight container in the pantry for a day or 2 and the filling could also be made in advance & kept in the fridge.

Baklava Tarts with Berries

(adapted from abc’s delicious summer edition)

 Ingredients:

• 40g walnuts, toasted
• 40g pistachios, toasted
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar
• 12 sheets filo pastry, thawed
• 100g unstated butter, melted
• 1 cup pouring cream
• 1 cup softened cream cheese
• 1tsp icing sugar
• 2 x 125g punnets of raspberries
• icing sugar to dust
• honey to drizzle

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170c/340f. Line a cookie tray with baking paper
2. Pule the nuts, sugar & spices in a food processor to finely chop
3. Lay 1 filo sheet on a clean bench, brush with a little melted butter & sprinkle with sugar mix, lay another filo sheet on top, repeat with butter & nut mixture. Fold in half to form a 24cm square, brush with butter & roll edges in to form a crust. (don’t worry if the crusts explode a little, they still look very pretty once baked)Brush with butter again & cover with a damp tea towel & repeat to make 4 tart cases. Transfer to the baking tray & bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden. **note, if they puff up quite a lot in the oven, don’t worry about it too much, just crush the middle down with a spoon when you put in the filling
4. While the shells bake whip the cream until soft peaks form then add chopped cream cheese & icing sugar & whip until combined. Refrigerate until needed.
5. Allow the tart shells to cool, fill with cream cheese mixture & top with raspberries, a dusting of icing sugar & a liberal drizzle of honey.

The recipe says this serves 4 but they are very greedy portions, I cut mine in half & they were still massive. I really think you could cut them into quarters if you wanted.