Baklava Meets Cheesecake

This recipe is a little different from traditional baklava but is still delicious! What makes this baklava different is a layer of cream cheese mixture, which adds an aspect of creaminess to the dessert. The original recipes is "Sweet Cheese Baklava" from Kraft Recipes but I altered it a little to add a thicker crust and added some tips (baklava is not the easiest dessert to make). 

Total time: 1 hour

Yields 20 servings

1 cup finely chopped nuts (any type will work, I used walnuts)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 pkg. 8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup honey, divided

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

20 sheets frozen phyllo pastry dough, thawed

1/2 cup butter, melted. 

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine nuts, sugar, and spices in a bowl and set aside. Beat cream cheese, 1/4 cup of honey, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.

If you've never worked with phyllo dough before it is very thin and comes in large sheets. Because these sheets are larger than most pans, they may need to be cut so they can fit perfectly into the pan. Lay out the 20 sheets onto a flat surface and cut with a serrated knife. 

Brush the bottom and sides of pan with butter or spray with pam. Lay the first sheet of phyllo dough in the pan, brush the entire sheet with melted butter. Add the next sheet on top. Continue to do this with 7 sheets. This will create the crust.

Butter the top of the 7th sheet and then add the nut mixture evenly over the sheet. You will add the nut mixture to every other sheet. So basically every sheet gets a layer of butter and ever other gets the nut mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture on the top of the top sheet. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cream cheese is set. Heat the remaining 1/4 cup honey and drizzle over the top of the baklava. Cool to room temperature before serving. 

All thats left to do is enjoy!