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Sarailie - Baklawa filled with cheese

Sarailie – Baklawa filled with cheese

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Phyllo pastry 14 sheets, defrosted in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours
  • 2 cups Farmer cheese or Ricotta cheese
  • 4 Tbs sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • A pinch of salt
  • Lemon and orange zest
  • 2 Tbs instant pudding or cornstarch
  • 1 egg
  • Optional: raisins or dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup each melted butter and canola oil for brushing
  • 1 2/3 cup water
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • Juice from one lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Flower Blossom water or Rose water to taste: if it's an extract – use cautiously
  • 1 wooden skewer !

Instructions

  • Mix all the filling's ingredients.
  • Lay out one layer of Phyllo and cover the rest with a dry kitchen towel/cloth. Phyllo pastry dries really fast so make sure you cover the sheets that aren't in use.
  • Cut the Phyllo sheet lengthwise to 3 equal rectangles.  Brush the sheet with a mixture of melted butter and oil.  Cut a wooden skewer in two, place one half of the skewer on top of one of the rectangles' width, nearest to your body.
  • Put the filling in a plastic piping bag and press out a narrow line of filling, next to and parallel to the skewer.
  • Roll the Phyllo on the skewer and the filling till the end of the sheet And this is the little trick that makes these Baklava fingers look wrinkled:
  • Push, with both your hands' fingers, from both sides of the roll, to the center.  Take out the skewer and place in a heat-proof Pyrex dish.
  • After the dish is filled with Sarailie "fingers", give it another brush with melted butter and bake in medium temperature for 35-45 minutes, till it gets a golden- Brownish color.
  • In the meantime, prepare the syrup:
  • Heat water, sugar, honey and the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan. Let is simmer for several minutes.
  • When the Sarailie come out of the oven, drizzle the syrup over them, gradually, till they soak the liquid. At this point – you can choose how much syrup you want to add to it. No need to use it all. You can save it in the fridge or freezer for later use.