Individual Baklava Cups
Ingredients
For the Baklava:
- 1/2 cup pistachios
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup almonds
- zest from 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 sheet puff pastry (or 24 prepared mini filo shells)
For the Topping:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 mini muffin tins.
- Arrange the pistachios, walnuts, and almonds on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Let nuts cool slightly and add to a food processor along with the lemon zest, sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Pulse until the nuts are finely ground.
- Cut the puff pastry into 3x2 inch pieces. Press the pastry gently into the muffin cups. Place 1 teaspoon of the nut mixture over each piece of pastry. Bake until filling is hot and the pastry is golden, about 15 minutes.
- While the pastry is baking, bring the sugar, water, and honey to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until reduced and slightly thickened, about 15 minutes minutes. Pour 1 teaspoon syrup into each cup and allow it to soak in, then repeat with another teaspoon. Refrigerate at least 5 hours, or overnight.
Notes
Note: As the recipe indicates, I found that the best way to add the honey mixture is to pour it directly over the bites while they are still in the muffin tin. This way all of the good sweet stuff has time to soak into the baklava before you remove the bites from the tin. You can even refrigerate them while still in the muffin tin, just make sure that you grease the muffin tin really well before using - these little guys get sticky!