How to Make Tiropita (A tasty cheese hors d'oeuvre!)

My yaya passed down this delicious recipe to me when I was a teenager. Since then it has been a favorite treat of my friends and family and a necessity for any party. This simple recipe is the perfect crowd pleaser, and it is easy to make! It is also the perfect treat to make with your loved ones because folding the pastry is a simple job that could use a lot of hands!

Indgredients:

1lb Feta Cheese

1lb Ricotta Cheese

1 box Phyllo dough

1 tsp Nutmeg

1-2 Eggs

Melted butter

*Makes 30-40 pastries

*Don't worry too much about being exact (greek cooking isn't exactly celebrated for its careful measuring). If you'd like to save money/make a smaller portion you could use 1/2 pound of ricotta cheese and the tiropita will be just as yummy.

Step 1: Prepare your dough. Phyllo dough is tricky-- it cracks and breaks and melts easily-- so be gentle handling it. Thaw the dough in the fridge for about an hour before working with it. Once it is thawed and easy to manage, unroll it carefully from the packaging and lay it in a flat stack. !! Always keep an eye on your dough to make sure it's not too moist or dry !! You can keep it from drying out during this time by covering the stack with a sheet of wax paper and placing a slightly dampened towel over the wax.

Step 2: Prepare your filling. Crumble the feta cheese into a large mixing bowl. Add the riccotta and 1 egg. If the mixture seems dry, add the second egg (shouldn't need it if you use the whole 1lb of riccotta). Add the nutmeg and mix together.

Step 3: Melt some butter for spreading. You'll need at least half a stick, but you can melt more as you need it.

Step 4: Now that you have prepared the dough, the filling, and the butter, you can begin assembling. Take 2-3 layers of phyllo from the stack and lay them on a cutting board. Cut 1.5" strips (width-wise, not length-wise) from your small stack of dough (a pizza cutter is good for this task).

Step 5: Take one of your strips (which will be 2-3 layers of dough). Use your melted butter and a cooking brush to lightly butter the strip. Put approx. 1 tbsp of cheese filling on the bottom of the strip. Take the right corner and fold it up and over to the left side, creating a right triangle covering the filling. Take the bottom corner of the triangle and fold it straight up to create another right triangle. Repeat the motion to the opposite side, and then back, until the pastry is all wrapped up. Use another dab of butter to hold down the remaining flap of dough and to make your tiropita golden. Repeat this for the rest of the strips and cut more as you need it. Placed finished tiropita on a foil-covered cookie sheet.

Step 6: keep the tiropita in your refridgerator until you are ready to serve them! Do not bake them until just before you want them, as this treat is best served hot. When you are ready to serve them, preheat you oven to 400 degrees and allow them to bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are a temptatious golden brown. Put the hot tiropita on a platter and they'll be gone in minutes!