EVA'S LEBANESE COOKING
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EVA'S LEBANESE COOKING

Mini Walnut Cupcakes

12/27/2015

2 Comments

 
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Years ago Eva's mother got the recipe for Walnut Cupcakes from an elderly Egyptian woman​ and always made them for her family. Eva still has the recipe and loves making these delicious sweets around the holidays to add to her cookie platters. They are not exactly cupcakes, they just have a cupcake shape! These are made of a sweet walnut filling baked inside a cream cheese dough... Yum! Since they are mini, it's super easy to eat a bunch at once!

Depending on your dough, Eva's recipe makes approximately 60 mini cupcakes. Feel free to cut the amounts of each ingredients in half or however you choose to make less. Eva likes to make cookie platters for her family and friends so she is used to making a lot. Preparing these walnut cupcakes before baking takes about an hour, and each pan takes about 20 minutes to bake. So be sure to try these on a day when you have time to rest (and snack) afterwards!


​Ingredients:
For Dough:
  • 2 sticks of sweet/unsalted butter (left out before baking to soften)
  • 8 ounces of cream cheese (also should be left out before baking)
  • 2 cups of flour
For Walnut Filling:
  • 1/2 a stick of butter
  • 2 and a 1/2 cups of walnuts grinded in food processor
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 1 and a 1/2 cup of light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
Items needed:
  • Mini cupcake pans (Eva has 4 pans but you can easily use one pan at a time by removing the cooked walnut cupcakes and reusing the pan)
Instructions:
1. Mix cream cheese, butter, and flour in a large bowl to form into a large ball of dough
2. Once dough ball is made, put it in your fridge to thicken it and to make it easier to work with for about 15-20 minutes (can be prepared the night before to save time)
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3. Mix walnuts, butter, vanilla, brown sugar, and 2 eggs in a bowl (4 eggs were used in this picture because Eva made 2 batches)
4. Once mixing is done, preheat oven to 350 degrees
5. Mold your dough mix into small balls, then flatten, and place in each cupcake holder, covering the whole space
6. Add a teaspoon into each cupcake holder (we use 2 spoons to add in the filling - one spoon to scoop and one to scrape) you can add more or less 
7. Bake on your bottom rack for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, and on the top rack for 5 minutes
8. Let rest for a minute and with a sharp knife gently remove the cupcakes to a cooling rack
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Enjoy!
2 Comments

Merry Christmas!

12/25/2015

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To our friends who celebrate:
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Baklawa

12/19/2015

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It's time to make your friends and family (& your sweet tooth) very happy with some delicious homemade baklawa (baklava)! Preparing baklawa is very time-consuming and requires patience (you will be working with many filo dough layers). While it took Eva about 50 minutes to prepare it before baking, keep in mind that it may take someone with less experience more time. However long it takes you, I promise the end result will be worth it! 

Eva has picked up the tradition of baking baklawa around the holidays along with her other Christmas cookies. Baklawa has a very rich and sweet taste, and of course is high in sugar and crisco, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with indulging in this yummy treat on special occasions. Of course you can always buy pre-made baklawa but I know from experience that homemade tastes so much better!


Prep time: 50 minutes to an hour
Cooking time: 45-50 minutes

Ingredients:
  • Filo Dough - 2 16 oz. packages (if you prefer less filo, you can use half a package for each section)
  • 2 cups of Crisco (or butter)
  • 1 32. oz bag of Walnuts
  • 1/2 cup of Sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Rose Water ​
  • Atyr (ingredients and recipe)
    • 2 teaspoons of rose water
    • 4 cups of sugar 
    • 2 cups of water
    • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
      • Mix sugar, water and rose water and bring to boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. Turn stove off and add lemon juice and let cool
Items need:
  • Ruler
  • 12 x 16 baking sheet
  • Baking brush 
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1. Melt crisco in a pot on the stove on medium heat. You can also melt it in the microwave with a measuring cup (your preference).
2. Put your walnuts in a food processor and grind until fine and add to a separate bowl (also your preference, you can have it so fine that it’s like dust, or you can have it crunchier).
3. Add a half a cup of sugar (used to bind walnuts together while baking) and 2 tablespoons of rose water to walnuts and mix it all together and set aside
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4. For your bottom layer of baklava:
  • You will use one package of filo for your bottom layer and the other package for the top.
  • Be sure to work quickly with filo, it will dry and get crispy
  • Brush the bottom of your baking sheet with melted crisco, add a sheet of filo and brush over it, then add another sheet of filo dough and repeat with each sheet (you can do 2 sheets at once and while brushing hold down with the other hand to keep the filo from sliding). *Flatten sheet down with your hands before brushing to keep bubbles from forming
  • Don’t worry about a piece of the filo dough being wrinkled or broken, patch it up with a brush of crisco and keep going, it is a forgiving dough & in the end you will not see the errors.
5. Add walnut mixture and spread evenly onto filo dough layer (amount added is your preference). We used all of our mixture in this size baking sheet. Pat down the mix with your hands or a spatula
6. Dip your brush into crisco and drizzle it over walnuts to give it a base for your top level
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

8. Add a sheet of filo dough over mixture.
  • The first sheet will be a little more challenging, just gently brush it 
  • Depending on your pan size, one sheet of filo might not cover the pan, add your sheets starting on the right edge then on the left to cover the whole area (don't be afraid to overlap to get it all covered)
9. Continue adding your filo dough and brushing the top of each sheet. *When brushing on crisco, try not to brush over the edge of your baking sheet as this could start a fire in your oven.
10. You can cut your baklava however you'd like. Here is how Eva does it:
  • ​Using a ruler mark a halfway spot in your pan horizontally and then halfway vertically.  The point is to make even size squares so that the squares can then be cut in half (see below).
11. Place on bottom rack for 35 minutes and 5 minutes on the top rack.
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11. Remove your baklava from the oven and immediately pour atyr over it with a large deep spoon, Eva pours it down each row
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Let it cool and enjoy! 
For the holidays Eva likes to put the baklava pieces in festive cupcake holders and add them to cookie platters for family and friends!
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Yum! :)
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