Thursday, September 13, 2012

Spanakopita Bites
















 
I have a new favorite appetizer - spanakopita bites.  They're a combination of 2 of my favorite things - spinach artichoke dip and phyllo dough.  I came up with this idea to make a tiny cup out of phyllo dough after reading through a blog on "What's Cookin' Chicago?".  They had a similar version of this phyllo cup filled with spinach dip that inspired me to create my version of this bite sized treat.  It took me a couple of tries to figure out how to make the phyllo cups but once I had it figured out - it was pretty easy.  

Spanakopita Bites
Spinach Dip (Any kind will do.)  I used my favorite spinach and artichoke dip recipe. 
phyllo dough
melted butter

Defrost frozen phyllo sheets for 30 minutes on counter.  Cut the entire stack of phyllo with scissors into 12 pieces.  (It took me years to figure out that scissors are the easiest way to cut phyllo.)


Brush 1 square at a time with melted butter and stack on top of each other until you have a stack of 5.  (Working with phyllo takes practice and patience - don't rush it.)

 






Check out this concentration.







 Gently press the entire stack into a greased mini muffin tin.  
 


Fill each shell with a scoop of spinach dip.  


Bake 20 minutes at 375.  


These were awesome warm - right out of the oven.  But they were still good after they cooled to room temperature.  



I know what you're thinking - phyllo dough is too much trouble.  Don't worry - these little square are a great way to learn to work with phyllo.  They're more manageable than working with big sheets of this flaky pastry.  Go on - give it a try and if you need help - just email me and I will be there to help you out.


Practice makes better phyllo bakers and it also makes better cross country runners.  These are a few of my favorite pictures from yesterday's meet.

Ciao!


Spanakopita Bites
Spinach Dip (Any kind will do.)  I used my favorite spinach and artichoke dip recipe. 
phyllo dough
melted butter

Defrost phyllo sheets for 30 minutes on counter.  Cut the entire stack of phyllo with scissors into 12 pieces.  Brush 1 square at a time with melted butter and stack on top of each other until you have a stack of 5.  Gently press the entire stack into a greased mini muffin tin.  Fill each shell with a scoop of spinach dip.  Bake 20 minutes at 375.  

2 comments:

  1. Was just wondering...Do you think you can make these ahead of time and freeze first.

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  2. Great question. I've made the filling in advance and frozen it separately but I've never tried freezing the whole thing put together. I don't see why it wouldn't work but I can't tell you that I've done it before. It's worth a try.

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