My Yiayia Angie is the baklava QUEEN. I never, ever eat baklava unless she makes it because I know I’ll be disappointed. Her baklava is always perfectly cut into compact diamond shapes, the layers soaked with just enough syrup so the flavor comes through without being too sweet.
Sometimes, Yiayia Angie makes chocolate baklava as a really special treat. I thought it would be fun to create a pop tart filled with a chocolate baklava filling! This recipe has three parts: baklava syrup, chocolate walnut filling, and chocolate pop tart dough. It doesn’t require any strange ingredients, and if you break up the parts over the course of a day or two, it is so manageable. As always, I include detailed steps so you know what things should look like along the way. I GOT YOU! I promise, these are so easy to make. Without a doubt, you'll make someone's day if you give them a homemade pop tart.
I made these heart-shaped for Valentine's Day and had some fun making them into conversation hearts - I even included some Greek ones. You could make these into any shape you like, or just cut them into rectangles like classic pop tarts.
Ingredients
For the Syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon honey
1 small lemon wedge
2 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
For the Filling
1 cup walnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
For the Dough
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (or your favorite 1:2:1 gluten free flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (or your favorite vegan butter)
About 1 cup of ice water (you'll add one tablespoon at a time)
Method
1. Make the baklava syrup. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, stir, and bring to a boil over medium high heat. When the mixture is boiling, lower the heat all the way and simmer (uncovered) for 7-10 minutes, until the liquid has reduced slightly and you have a thin syrup. Pour the syrup into a jar or bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. (Note: if you don’t have time to make the syrup and cool it in advance, you can pop it in the fridge for about 10-20 minutes for it it cool. Don’t forget about it in the fridge or it’ll become way too thick and sticky!)
2. Make the chocolate walnut filling. Finely chop your walnuts by pulsing them in a food processor or powerful blender. Don’t grind them up so much that they become a paste. If you have the time, you can toast the walnuts lightly in dry a frying pan over medium heat until they smell nutty. If you don't want to bother toasting them, these are still delicious with raw walnuts. Mix the walnuts with the spices and cocoa powder in a small bowl. When you are ready to fill the pop tarts, pour the syrup into the walnut mixture and stir together until completely combined. The mixture will be thick and sticky.
3. Make the dough. This dough is very similar to making a pie dough. If you’ve ever made pie dough, you know that the most important thing is that the dough stays cold and that you use your hands as little as possible. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the cold pieces of butter and use a pastry cutter (or two butter knives) to incorporate the flour mixture into the butter until the butter becomes pea-sized pieces. Begin adding the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, incorporating it until the dough just comes together. You’ll want it to come together in a cohesive disk of dough, and you’ll want to be able to see large flecks of butter throughout the dough - don’t over mix it and try to use your hands as little as possible. I recommend chilling the disk of dough (wrapped in plastic wrap) for 1-2 hours before rolling it out, but it should also work just fine if you don’t have time to chill it.
4. Get ready to roll out the dough. Clean your surface (counter, table, cutting board) and dust it generously with flour. Grab a rolling pin (or even a wine bottle!). Split the dough in half. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/8” thick. Use as much flour as needed so the dough doesn't stick to your surface or rolling pin. If you’re sticking with the Valentine theme, use a heart/shaped cookie cutter. (You could also use a different shape or even just cut the dough into rectangles like regular pop tarts.) Cut out as many as you can from the first half of the dough and let them hang out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Put the scraps aside and repeat the process with the second half of the dough. I find that this dough is pretty much “done” after having been rolled out once. Trying to squish the scraps together and cut out more just doesn’t work for me because my hands have warmed up the dough too much. If you want to keep going and cut out more pop tarts, you totally can! If not, save the dough in the fridge and use it for something else! (Chocolate empanadas, maybe? Can we make that a thing?)
5. Finally, assemble the pop tarts! Depending on the size of your cookie cutter, your pop tarts may take more or less filling. I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter about 3” wide and each pop tart got about a teaspoon of filling. Spread the filling on top of one piece of dough and top with another piece. Press the dough around the filling with your fingers, and then use a fork to crimp the edges and make the two pieces of dough stick together. Repeat with all of your pieces of dough. Freeze the pop tarts on the sheet pan for 20 minutes.
6. Bake the pop tarts. Preheat your oven to 400’. After the pop tarts have chilled in the freezer, bake them for 15-20 minutes (depending on their size) until the bottoms are lightly browned and the tops are firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely.
7. Add a little pizzazz! You could decorate these with frosting/icing from the store, or you could make a chocolate glaze. For my chocolate glaze, I melted 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. I spooned a little glaze over each pop tart, popped them in the fridge for about 10 minutes so the chocolate hardened, and then used a tube of decorating icing to write fun conversation heart words and phrases on them.
Happy Valentine's Day, foodies! Wishing you a day filled with love and - of course - delicious food. xoxo Catherine
PS: If you try this recipe or another one from my blog or Instagram, don't forget to share and tag me @heyfoodiegirl!