Bourekakia (Baklava 'cigars')

I've never worked with phyllo dough, and this was the perfect recipe to practice on. Because you roll them up, it's a very forgiving recipe. It does take some time to butter and roll each one, but the results were fantastic. The exterior is flaky and buttery, and the interior has a wonderful sweet nutty flavor. Bet you can't eat just one! I did have about half of the syrup left over, and next time will cut the amount I make. This is going right into my favorite desserts cookbook.

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Since I am gluten free I didn't actually get to try these but was told by my mother they are sooo good. Masha Allah. I did do a few trials rolling them, so some wern't exactly cigars, but it was easy once I got the hang of it. I dusted them with homemade powdered sugar which included tapioca starch. My oven seemed to cook these way faster the the amount of time specified. The bottoms got too brown so I will make these again only if I get a new oven.

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Absolutely Great! I mixed 1/2 the syrup with the nuts and filled inside. I cheated a bit and made mine huge (8 layers each), but they are still great. I used the rest of the syrup to pour on top. The Best!

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what a fantastic recipe. i wish i could take pics but i will leave that to someone who will do it justice. these turned out so well and are quite addicting. thanks!

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Please note that a few of the ingredients are showing up incorrectly on the recipe page but are actually correct on the Submit a Correction page. The following amounts are what should appear:

Syrup:
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey (preferably, Greek Thyme)
3 cinnamon sticks
3 whole cloves
Filling:
3 cups ground walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 egg whites, room temperature, beaten to consistency of mayonnaise
1 lb phyllo pastry
1 cup butter, melted
icing sugar

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Outstanding! Next time I will make more filling! My family loved this recipe!!!

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An exceptionally delicious & unique dessert. It was raved about at our dinner party, and it was our first time making it (but not the last!). Some side notes: we used regular honey not Greek Thyme honey; we had some notable difficulty with peeling the phyllo and keeping it pliable (quickly adding butter keeps it from turning to parchment); we added a sprinkle of cinnamon atop the confectionary sugar for contrast and taste. Loved it!!

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I truly loved these, since they weren't sticky sweet as most other baklavas I've made, Since they are time-consuming, when I want to serve them, I make them ahead of time and freeze. The only change I made was to change syrup somewhat by using 1T orange juice and 1T lemon juice. I'll be making these smokin' "cigars" for every Greek Night we have! Thanks so much!

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Absolutely wonderful! I followed the recipe exactly except for putting a little more filling in each cigar - only made about 4 dozen but that was plenty. A little labor-intensive, but not anymore so than regular baklava. They're also not as messy, are bite-size, and they make for a better presentation. I served them at my Christmas party and they got RAVE reviews! Definitely will become a permanent part of my recipe collection. Mmmm!

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I made these to take to a friend's "cocktail" party as they would be more portable and not so messy. They are VERY GOOD! If you are looking for the sticky, sweet baklava; this is not for you. They are much more dry, but still great flavor. The only problem I had was that when my "cigars" were baking the filling exploded out the ends - not all of it, but a good amount (maybe because I used a Tbsp instead of a tsp?) I also used two layers of phyllo per roll to make it much more flaky. Will definetly make again.

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BF was not so enthusiastic when I told him I was going to make baklava cigars. We are both not huge fans of baklava, although I have to add that we haven't eaten it that many times. However, when he came back from work and tried one cigar right out of the oven, he made mmmmmmm. Same reaction from my flatmate's girlfriend: mmmm. I said to BF that this cigars are really a lot of work and he answered: "But they are certainly worth it". And yes, I guess they are. I did make them wrong though and put the filling on the wide edge instead of the narrow. I guess that made them a little bit less forgiving and I also didn't have enough filling probably due to that. As Ev mentions in her intro, these cigars really keep well and actually they are quite fun to make!

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