These cookie cups would be a great addition to the cookies you are baking this year. This recipe makes 12 cookie cups but can be easily doubled .The flavors are simple- nutty and aromatic. Nuts, butter, cardamom, honey syrup, orange zest and drizzle of chocolate- what’s not to love! Me and the husband love love baklava and I wanted to include them in my baking list during the holidays this year. These baklava cookie cups are super simple to make.Now, these will never replace the traditional baklava but these cookie cups are definitely a unique. Imagine them as baklava in a cookie form. Minus the flaky phyllo pastry which I admit is a huge part of baklava, all the other elements of the traditional middle eastern dessert are right here . Ofcourse, the flaky baklava texture is missing but full points for the flavor. For once, I simply loved not having to work with the fussy phyllo pastry 🙂 Lets look at the elements of these Baklava Cookie Cups
Orange Zest Scented Sugar Cookie DoughChopped Cinnamon Scented Nuts FillingHoney SyrupDark Chocolate Drizzle (optional but recommended)
Orange Zest Scented Sugar Cookie Dough- I make a simple eggless orange zest scented cookie dough to mimic the floral notes in traditional baklava but you can use store bought sugar cookie dough as well. Just press the cookie dough in muffin tin cups and there you go! Chopped Cinnamon Scented Nuts Filling Similar to traditional baklava, I used chopped walnuts and pistachios for the nuts filling. You can use almonds or cashews as well. I toss the nuts with melted butter and a dash of green cardamom powder. Honey Syrup - Honey syrup is made with honey and fresh squeezed orange juice. You can add a little rose water as well to the syrup if you wish. Once the cookie cups finish baking, similar to traditional baklava, I douse them in the syrup. Dark Chocolate Drizzle is optional but recommended. You can use milk chocolate as well but I feel that dark chocolate paired better since the rest of the cookie cups elements are quite sweet.
How to Make Baklava Cookie Cups?
Make the cookie dough. Or use store bought. Press the cookie dough in muffin liners. Bake the cookie dough and meanwhile prepare the nut filling. Fill the half baked cookie cups with nuts and bake again. Meanwhile make the honey syrup and melt the chocolate for drizzling. Pour the honey syrup over the slightly cooled cookie cups and drizzle melted chocolate. Baklava Cookie Cups are ready.
Few tips and tricks
Always use softened butter. It makes a huge difference in the ease of working with dough as well as the final cookie dough texture. Two kinds of sugar. Brown sugar gives these cookies their brown color and powdered sugar makes them melt in the mouth. While pressing the cookie dough make sure to shape it in a cup form so that there is a cavity to hold the nut filling. Chop the raw nuts with hands. Don’t chop too fine - else they will burn(since they bake exposed) or too coarse - they will not toast properly. I felt that 1 - 1.5 tablespoon honey syrup was enough and the cookie cups had a nice sweetness plus they did not get soggy. Do not add more than 2 tablespoons of syrup.
