Minoo demonstrated a dessert made with phyllo dough in the South Arm Community Kitchen. It was an eye opener for some of the members of the South Arm Community Kitchen as they have never use a phyllo dough before. The dessert Minoo made is called Phyllo Cup.

The Phyllo Cup can be filled with various fillings. Minoo choosed to fill the Phyllo Cup with honey filling with berries. Other alternatives are lemon cheesecake filling and espresso coconut macadamia filings.

The Phyllo Cup is very crunchy and light. You really need a plate to eat this Phyllo Cup as the crumbs keep falling off the Phyllo Cup when you bite into it and you can hear the crunch every bite.

Ingredients

• 8 sheets frozen Phyllo dough, thawed
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• butter & milk to brush on the dough or you may just use Pam spray

Filling

• 3 oz softened cream cheese
• 2 to 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• one teaspoon vanilla extract
• fresh strawberries or other berries

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a bowl, cut up the cream cheese into smaller chunks. Add the whipping cream, honey and vanilla extract

Beat the mixture with a hand held mixer until stiff peaks form.

You’ll know it’s stiff peak when the mixture stays on a spatula and will not drop. Refrigerate for later use.

Wash and slice the strawberries.

Lightly coat a twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with butter or spray with Pam. Set aside.

Lay out one sheet of phyllo dough (keep remaining phyllo covered with a moist towel to prevent it from drying out). Lightly brush phyllo with mixture of melted butter and milk or spray with Pam. Sprinkle with some of the sugar.

Top with another sheet of phyllo. Lightly brush with butter mixture and sprinkle with sugar. Repeat layering with two more sheets of phyllo, brush with butter mixture an sprinkle with sugar. The stack should consiste of 4 phyllo dough.

Cut the stack in half lengthwise.

Cut crosswise into thirds. There should be a total of 12 rectangles from 2 stacks of 4 phyllo dough.

Press 1 rectangle into each prepared muffin cup, pleating phyllo as necessary to form a cup.

The Phyllo Cups will be overlapping one another.

Bake the Phyllo Cup in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes or until golden. Cool for 5 minutes in pan. Remove from pan to cool on rack completely. Fill with cream mixtures and garnish with berries. This recipe yields 12 cups.

Instructions for other filings:

Lemon Cheesecake Fillings:

In a bowl, beat one 8 oz package softened cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in 3 tablespoons store-bought lemon curd. Spoon into Phyllo cups. Garnish Phyllo Cups with lemon peel twists.

Espresso Coconut Macadamia Fillings:

In a bowl, beat one 8 oz package softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder. Add 1/2 cup whipping cream. Beat until stiff peaks form. Stir in 1/4 cup finely chopped Macadamia nuts and 1/2 cup toasted coconut. Spoon into Phyllo Cups. Garnish with additional nuts and toasted coconut.

Minoo, thank you for sharing this pretty Phyllo Cup dessert.