Cheesecake Baklava (Easy No-bake Cream)

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Cheesecake Baklava (Easy No-bake Cream)

This Cheesecake Baklava is made with a crispy, flaky, phyllo, cookie, and walnut base, soaked with warm honey syrup, and topped with a light, cool, and creamy, no-bake cheese cream.

Prep Time45

Cook Time35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Greek, Mediterranean

Keyword: cream, dessert

Servings: servings

Calories: 630kcal

Ingredients

For The Baklava Base:

100 grams (3.5 ounces) petit beurre cookies or digestive cookies or graham crackers
100 grams (3.5 ounces) walnuts or almonds, pistachios, pecans, hazelnuts
4 filo pastry sheets
80 grams (5½ tablespoons) butter melted
80 ml (⅓ cup) warm milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For The Syrup:

200 grams (1 cup) sugar
50 grams (2 loaded tablespoons) honey
150 ml water
50 ml cognac, brandy, or other sweet liquor or orange juice for non alcoholic

For The Cream:

400 ml heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
600 grams (1.3 pounds) cream cheese at room temperature
120 grams (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Serve With:

ground walnuts
ground cinnamon
honey

Instructions

Make The Baklava Base:

Preheat oven to 170°C 340°F.
Pulse walnuts in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl.
Pulse the petite beurres until powdered.
Combine powdered biscuits with ground walnuts and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
Brush a 10-inch Springform pan with melted butter.
Lay 4 filo sheets in the pan. One on top of the other, cross-like, to cover the pan all around. Half of each filo will hang out of the pan. Brush each filo you add with melted butter.
Mix the remaining butter with the milk.
Spread the ground walnut mixture and smooth with a spoon.
Drizzle with butter-milk mixture, saving some for the top filo.
Overlap the excess filo on top to coat the base. Brush and drizzle with the remaining butter mixture.
Bake for about 30 minutes until golden-brown and crispy. While the base bakes, start preparing the syrup.

Make The Syrup:

Add all of the ingredients for the syrup (sugar, honey, water, cognac) to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook the syrup for 8-10 minutes, without stirring, until it thickens.
Spoon the syrup gradually over the base while they are both hot.
NOTE: You can place the Springform pan inside a larger pan or on a large plate to hold excess syrup that may leak out from the sides of the Springform pan.
Cool the Baklava base to room temperature.

Prepare The Cream:

Beat the cream cheese with sugar and vanilla extract, using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, with the whisk attachment on, for 5-6 minutes until creamy.
Add the heavy cream gradually. Beat until fully combined and thickened.

Assemble:

Spread the whipped cream cheese over the cooled Baklava base. Smooth the surface with a spoon.
Sprinkle with ground walnuts and ground cinnamon.
Refrigerate the Cheesecake Baklava for at least 8 hours.
Serve with a drizzle of honey on top if you like. It yields 16 pieces or 12 larger ones.

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