Sweet cheese, tahini and chocolate flogeres

Serve these sweet filo rolls with a scoop of thick cream for an easy midweek dessert. For an even faster recipe, fill the pastry with prepared chocolate tahini (available from Greek delicatessens) and chopped toasted walnuts. Best eaten on the day of making.

Sweet cheese, tahini and chocolate flogeres. Credit: Benito Martin

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 60 g (¼ cup) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 60 g firm ricotta, drained
• 2 tbsp hulled tahini
• 30 g (¼ cup) icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp finely chopped dark chocolate
• 50 g candied orange, coarsely chopped
• 3 sheets filo pastry
• 40 g unsalted butter, melted
• icing sugar, to dust
• thick cream or vanilla bean ice-cream, to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
2. Place the cream cheese, ricotta, tahini, icing sugar and vanilla in a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chopped chocolate and orange.
3. Brush 1 sheet of filo pastry with a little melted butter and place another sheet on top. Brush with butter, place remaining sheet on top, and brush with more butter. Cut the filo stack into 4 rectangles. With one long side facing you, spread one-quarter of the filling along the bottom edge of one of the rectangles, leaving a 1 cm border. Fold in the edges, then roll up and place, seam-side down, on an oven tray lined with baking paper and brush with melted butter. Repeat with the remaining filo squares, filling and butter. 
4. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden and crisp. Dust with icing sugar and then cut each roll in half on the diagonal. Serve warm with thick cream or ice-cream.

Photography by Benito Martin

Styling by Jerrie-Joy Redman-Lloyd

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.