Turn store bought dough into these stunning baklava cinnamon rolls. If you don’t tell anyone they aren’t completely made from scratch, neither will I.

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Originally when I dreamed up the recipe for these baklava cinnamon rolls they were to be made from scratch. But then I decided to take a shortcut, like my ghost cinnamon rolls, and use premade refrigerated ones instead. With the addition of the baklava filling, it makes this recipe much more approachable.

Once you unroll those perfectly rolled refrigerated cinnamon rolls, you layer thin sheets of phyllo, brush with melted butter, sprinkle finely chopped cinnamon-walnuts on top and repeat three more times. Then you just have to roll them tightly back up, slice into 5 cinnamon rolls, and bake!

After about 25 minutes in the oven, you will have golden flaky beauties. They also will be much larger than the original packaged cinnamon rolls as you essentially doubled their filling, but they are worth the glow up.

While the baklava cinnamon rolls are baking, you take that little cup of icing from the package and add a little honey and lemon zest before drizzling evenly over the top of the hot rolls. Baklava cinnamon roll transformation complete!

It might seem like a shame to go through all that for just five baklava cinnamon rolls, but it was perfect for our house of two. If you have a lager party to entertain, thankfully it’s easy enough to buy a second can of cinnamon rolls and use more of that package of phyllo dough you already have for the first half.

Looking for more brunch ideas? Check on the roundup listed right before the recipe to se what my other foodie friends made today.

More Brunch Recipes:

• Easy Banana Snack Cake from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Lemon Basil Chicken Salad from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• BLT Eggs Benny from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Muffin Tin Omelets from Blogghetti
• Rhubarb Crumble Muffins from Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box
• Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail from A Little Fish in the Kitchen
• Crown Royal Blackberry Sangria from Our Crafty Mom
• Easy Mini Cakes from Easy Recipes for One
• Chicken Limone from Art of Natural Living
• Cheese Danish Cups from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

BAKLAVA CINNAMON ROLLS

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Yield: 5 Servings Prep Time: 15 MInutes Cooking Time: 25 Minutes 25 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 4 oz. walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 (17.5 oz.) tube Grands Pillsbury cinnamon rolls*
• 6 thawed phyllo dough sheets (about 4 oz.), cut in half lengthwise*
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp fresh lemon zest (about 1/2 lemon)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine the walnuts and cinnamon.
3. On a clean, lightly floured surface, unroll the cinnamon rolls without separating them. Place two sheets of phyllo over the unrolled dough, brush lightly with butter, and sprinkle top with 1/4 of the walnut mixture. Repeat 3 more times with remaining phyllo, butter, and walnuts.
4. Tightly roll dough back up, slice into 5 rolls and arrange in prepared pan.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.
6. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the icing from the package with honey and lemon zest. 
7. When cinnamon rolls are done, immediately drizzle icing evenly over the top. Serve immediately. 

Notes

*You will have 12 long and thin sheets that should be about the same size as the unrolled cinnamon roll dough. If you don't use refrigerated dough and make them from scratch, you will need to double the filling and not cut the phyllo sheets in half.

Whether you need a snack or an easy appetizer for guests, these little baked jam phyllo cups are filled with creamy cheese and topped with fruit preserves for a fancy looking treat.

Disclosure: The Laughing Cow® provided me with product for this promotion. However, thoughts and opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the brand.

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Christmas Eve is tomorrow and my holiday spirit couldn’t be any more lacking. Not that I am a Grinch about it, in fact I wish I was more spirited but with moving, painting, warm weather, not buying Christmas presents this year because of the move, not decorating because of the move, and having little time for fun holiday baking beyond teaching my friend Haley how to make potica (which you missed out if you didn’t catch that documentary on my Snapchat) I didn’t have much time to stock up on my Christmas spirit.

I make a few attempts but none of them stuck beyond the moment. I’m just exhausted and cannot wait to hide away in a kitchen with my dad to bake all the things, get a good cheeseburger, play card games, and see Star Wars (again).

But speaking of my lack of time in the kitchen lately, the move is hugely to blame for that one. It’s a little difficult baking and cooking in a kitchen filled with boxes, while you are still trying to finish painting the walls, and have no idea where half of your tools are. But I am beginning to see the light and think it is about 90% done!

Meanwhile, we still have had to eat and often scavenged whatever randomness there was to be found in the pantry or fridge. I tend to resort to snacks for dinner and was tempted to resort to my usual platter of cheese, fruit and crackers.

After finding a sleeve of phyllo cups however, I decided to get a little fancy-schmancy with some spreadable white cheddar cheese from The Laughing Cow. These little crispy cups of cheesy goodness are topped with a dollop of preserves and a sprinkle of fresh rosemary which I serendipitously plucked off my plant. You could even throw this together as a last minute party appetizer and it’d look like you spent a lot more time on it than you did.

Favorite Finger Foods for New Years

• Bacon Wrapped Dates from That Recipe
• Champagne Truffles from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Cheeseburger Pie Bites from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Keto Scotch Eggs from Art of Natural Living
• Mexican Mollettes Bites from Magical Ingredients
• Rosemary Pesto and Steak Crostini from Pandemonium Noshery
• Thai Lime & Chili Cashews (DIY Trader Joe’s) from Palatable Pastime

We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you’re at it, join our Pinterest board, too!

BAKED CHEESE AND JAM PHYLLO CUPS

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Yield: 15 pieces Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cooking Time: 8 Minutes 8 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 1 box frozen mini phyllo shells (15 shells)
• 6 oz. (8 wedges) The Laughing Cow white cheddar spreadable cheese
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• About 1/2 cup fruit jam or preserves flavor of choice
• Fresh rosemary, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place phyllo cups on a rimmed baking sheet, set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, blend together the cheese and yogurt.
3. Spoon/pipe about a tablespoon of the cheese mixture into each cup, leaving a slight indentation for the preserves.
4. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately top with about a teaspoon of preserves. Sprinkle with rosemary if desired and serve immediately.

Source: The Spiffy Cookie original

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Homemade baklava can be a bit overwhelming. But these baklava bars couldn’t be easier. With pistachios and Jameson for blended Irish-Greek spirit!

Over the past month I have consistently rotated around through Mexican, Greek, and more recently Irish/St. Patrick’s Day recipes. While today’s recipe primarily resides in the Greek category the green of the pistachios was good enough reason for me to double dip these into St. Patrick’s Day as well. To seal the deal, I even threw in a little bit of Jameson whiskey into the glaze because why not? I think these components would be good in the form of baklava thumbprint cookies as well.

One year ago: Mini Rainbow Cheesecake Bites

Two years ago: Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cupcakes

Four years ago: Irish Car Bomb Brownies

PISTACHIO BAKLAVA BARS

Makes 24 bars

Ingredients:

CRUST

1 (1 lb. 1.5 oz.) pouch sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 egg

FILLING

1-1/2 cups chopped roasted pistachios

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

8 frozen mini fillo shells

GLAZE

1/3 cup honey, plus more for garnish

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp whiskey or bourbon (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray, set aside.
2. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, combine cookie crust ingredients until soft dough forms. Press dough evenly into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir pistachios, sugar, butter, cinnamon and salt with a fork until mixture is well mixed and crumbly.
4. Sprinkle nut mixture evenly over partially baked base. With hands, crumble frozen fillo shells evenly over nut mixture. Bake 18 to 20 minutes longer or until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, in a small microwavable bowl, microwave honey, butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon uncovered on HIGH for 1 minute or until bubbly. Stir in vanilla and liquor, if using.
6. Drizzle honey mixture evenly over fillo. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
7. Cut into bars. Before serving, drizzle a little honey over each bar. Store covered at room temperature.

Source: Slightly adapted from Betty Crocker.

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The mousse they serve there is insanely good. I didn’t even like chocolate mousse until I had theirs. When it comes to chocolate, I’ve always needed nuts, or something to break up the solid chocolate flavor. Do not even think of giving me a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting unless there is vanilla ice cream to “make the medicine go down” so-to-say. Plain chocolate ice cream is out of the question. And a solid chocolate bar? There better be peanut butter hidden in the middle or nuts in it before appealing to me. (This is where you say I am a strange female.) But the Casa Grill chocolate mousse? Sharing doesn’t work well with me.

Instead of trying to recreate that wonderful little bowl of goodness, I decided to mix it up with another popular dessert – baklava. You make the mousse separately, spoon it into little phyllo cups, and top it off with baklava-styled nuts and a dollop of honey. The results are obnoxiously scrumptious.

I worried that they would become soggy the longer they sat, with the flaky cups absorbing the moisture from the mousse, but I was pleasantly surprised that after two days in the fridge they maintained their crispiness! I originally had this as a “serve immediately” recipe, but I take it back. Although I doubt you will have to worry about storing them past the second day because they should magically disappear before that problem arises. But if you are concerned, maybe baklava cookie bars or baklava thumbprint cookies are more your jam.

BAKLAVA MOUSSE CUPS

Makes 30 mini cups

Ingredients:

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL MOUSSE

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup plus 1-1/2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

2-1/2 Tbsp salted butter, room temperature (or unsalted plus 1/4 tsp salt)

7 oz semisweet chocolate chips

3 eggs, separated

NUT TOPPING & CUPS

1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

Honey

2 pkgs frozen pre-baked mini phyllo cups

Directions:

1. Make the mousse: Combine the sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel, swirling as it begins to brown to distribute the sugar. While the sugar and water are going at it, heat up the cream in a saucepan or microwave just until warm.
2. Take off the heat and deglaze and add your room temperature butter. Add your warmed cream and whisk vigorously. Add the chocolate, wait for a minute or two for it to melt and mix until smooth then wait a few more minutes to cool. Add a little bit of warm chocolate to the egg yolks and stir it around a bit to bring the eggs to a warmer temperature and then added them to the chocolate mixture. Mix in the egg yolks.
3. Whisk the egg whites until they form firm peaks and then fold into the chocolate mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 6 hours.
4. Make the topping: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir walnuts, sugar, butter, cinnamon and salt with fork until mixture is well mixed and crumbly.
5. Sprinkle nut mixture evenly over parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 1o to 15 minutes or until caramelized. Allow to cool before crumbling any nuts which may have stuck together.
6. Assemble: Spoon 1 tablespoon chilled mousse into each phyllo cup. Top with nuts and a dollop of honey. Serve immediately or store in fridge for up to 2 days.

Source: Mousse from A Cozy Kitchen. Topping adapted from Betty Crocker.