Taking classic baklava one step further, this is a must-try recipe for baklava and cheesecake lovers.
Author: The Chef
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
For the pastry
250 g filo pastry 1 pack of store bough filo (10 sheets)
50 g Unsalted butter melted
140 g Walnut roast whole walnut, then pulse blend
For the cream cheese filling
450 g Cream cheese eg. full fat Philadelphia tub
120 g Granulated sugar
15 g All purpose flour
3 Eggs room temp
75 g Heavy Cream high 36% fat content, use it at room temperature
For the syrup
118 g Water
70 g Granulated sugar
50 g Honey
½ Lemon juice Juice of ½ lemon
½ Lemon zest Zest of the ½ lemon. Do not grate, it should be in 2-3 pieces so that you can take them out from the syrup later
Cinnamon stick medium size
1 tablespoon Rose water only use pure 100% natural rosewater
Instructions
Start with roasting walnut in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 200 C / 392 F. While roasting the nuts, make sure you do not burn it and remove it from the oven after you start to feel a lovely nutty smell
Keep the oven on so that it will get pre-heated for baking the cheesecake. Adjust temp to 180C / 356F
Pulse bland walnut in food processor until very tiny pieces but do not ground it fully. Alternatively, use a sharp knife and chop it by hand
Continue with making the cream cheese filling by creaming room temperature Philadelphia cheese with sugar for a minute or two until it gets fluffy
Mix in flour, add room temperature eggs, and finally add the room temperature heavy cream, mix just until combined, do not over mix
Continue with melting butter in the microwave. This will be used to brush the filo pastry
Continue with preparing the phyllo pastry and place them in between two very lightly wet tea towels so they don´t dry out
Then it´s assembling time! Take your spring form and generously grease the bottom and side as well with butter
From bottom to top the layers are:
sheets filo pastry then butter brush + walnut
sheets filo pastry then butter brush + walnut
sheets filo pastry then butter brush + walnut
sheets filo pastry then butter brush + walnut
sheets filo pastry
Pour the cream cheese filling on top
After assembling, trim the filo pastry around the baking pan (with a scissor)
Bake your cheesecake in the following way: 180C / 356F for 45 minutes, then remove the side of the spring form and bake for a further 25 minutes so the side gets also golden in colour. Adjust baking time to your oven - if necessary
While baking prepare the syrup: Boil all the ingredients together except the rose water until slightly thickens (5-10 minutes depending on your stove) and reaches syrup consistency. Remove it from the heat, remove lemon zest pieces and cinnamon stick and mix in rosewater
Pour syrup over the cheesecake as soon as cheesecake comes out of the oven. While pouring the syrup focus on the edges (where the filo pastry is) but some syrup can also go on top of the cheese part
Let it cool and further set in the fridge for minimum 2 hours, then decorate with pistachio and rose petals if you like
Recipe by 5* trending recipes with videos at https://food.theffeed.com/2022/02/07/baklava-cheesecake/