Spanikopita Bites

Spanikopita Bites, Falafel, Baba Ghanoush, Pita Bread

I have been on a HUGE Greek food kick lately. I feel the need to eat something Mediterranean at least once a week. I've also become a lot braver in the kitchen which makes it much more fun to try new recipes. I first found this recipe on Pinterest, and decided to make it for my dad one night. The hardest part was definitely using the phyllo dough, but i don't think i let it thaw enough before trying to use it. Luckily, it didn't affect the taste at all!

The moral of that story is: Relax! breaking the phyllo dough won't kill the dish!

I served it with homemade Baba Ghanoush, pita bread, and falafel and I'll post the recipes later for those!

This refrigerated really well too! The day after, I reheated it in the microwave and it was still crisp! The next few days, the dough got soggy, but it was still yummy. I literally ate it all week!

Spanikopita (I'll get a better picture next time!)

Spanikopita Bites

Ingredients:

*1 small onion, chopped finely
*3 green onions, finely chopped ( I bought pre-cut green ones
and just threw in several handfuls)
*10oz. Frozen chopped spinach ( I bought a tub of fresh baby
spinach and sautéed it with garlic and then chopped it. )
*6 oz feta cheese
*1 cup cottage cheese
*1 egg
*Salt/pepper to taste ( I actually forgot this part and it still
tasted fine. I didn't think it needed any!)
*1 lb. phyllo dough, thawed
*1 stick of butter, melted
*3 tbsp. olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet over med. heat and cook onions for roughly 3-4 minutes. (This was when I cooked and chopped the spinach).

3. Mix spinach, feta cheese, cottage cheese, and egg in a mixing bowl. Add onions, and salt/pepper. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

4. Combine melted butter and rest of oil.

5. Unroll dough and cut into small squares. Size depends on the muffin tray you use. Brush the muffin tray with butter. Then, place two small squares of dough into pan and press into a cup shape. Brush butter on bottom and sides, and place two more sheets of dough. Brush with butter. Put two more sheets of dough, and brush with butter one more time.

(This was the hardest part- I may consider buying the pre-made cups next time, but these ended up cooking perfectly!)

Then, scoop a spoonful of the spinach mixture into the dough cup and close the extra dough sticking out of the cup over the top. Brush with more butter.

(My dough kept cracking so I used the broken pieces and pieced it together. The butter ended up keeping it all together!)

6. Bake for 20 minutes.

I used a regular cupcake pan and this recipe made 12 spanikopita muffins. The crust ended up turning a light golden brown and the mixture was yummy! They came out easily and didn't fall apart. The most time consuming part was dealing with the phyllo dough!