easy strawberry cheesecake pockets.
/with chocolate, if you please!
wowwweeeeeeeee i have been in the depths of winter hibernation and have forgotten how to exercise this creative outlet of mine. in the midst of general busyness/business/darkness/laziness, i haven't been in the recipe making zooone. well, at least not to the point of photographing them properly - because it's dark & gloomy as shit out!
also that thing called christmastime happened, peter & i went on a long trip to europe, and we both turned 30. evidently we spent the entire month of january recovering from all of that, lol. woopsie.
to lift myself outta my winter creative funk and get back into the habit of challenging myself to make random recipes and take real photos (in daylight), i threw something together with a few ingredients i happened to have on hand. frozen strawberries from last summer, a bar of dark chocolate, frozen phyllo pastry dough, brown sugar, & cream cheese.
and it worked! i quickly put something together, it tasted good, and i didn't completely forget how to use my camera. [lolz jk i've actually been using my camera a ton this winter, just not for a lot of food purposes - but it still it feels like working a different muscle when you switch from shooting portraits to landscapes to objects to food, etc etc.
while i do not think these little treats (or the photos) turned out to be the most beautiful thing in the world, it still legitimately feels like i came out of a hibernation and took my first few wobbly-bambi-leg steps back into just making stuff for the hell of it. and it feels durn good!
p.s. calling these things "pockets" is kinda grossing me out..... but at the same time i don't feel like using some crazy long-winded 'chocolate strawberry cheesecake phyllo dough crispy thingydoodah' title either. so - stick that in your back pocket. BYE!
Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Pockets
Makes 6 Triangles
Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 roll phyllo pastry dough - actually only about 6 sheets (you can re-roll the sheets you don't use and freeze with the other roll that comes in the box of 2)
- 4-6 large strawberries, sliced
- 1/2 a chocolate bar of your choice (I used 1/2 of a Lindt 70% Cocoa Excellence Bar), chopped
- 4 oz. cream cheese (I used about 1/2 of a block of lite cream cheese for this)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray. Layer one sheet of phyllo dough at a time, giving a light spray (or brush on melted butter or coconut oil if you're an overachiever) of cooking spray on each layer. I used about 6 sheets in this recipe.
Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the large rectangle into 6 equal squares. Carefully place a dollop of cream cheese in a corner (but about 1/4 inch away from the outer edge) and sprinkle with a bit of brown sugar. Add some sliced strawberries and another sprinkle of brown sugar (you want the sweetness to be a bit layered and evenly dispersed). Add the chopped chocolate and more brown sugar if you desire.
Fold the empty corner of each square over the toppings to form a triangle and press down gently to flatten. Lightly spray (or brush with butter or oil) over the tops. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry dough has started to brown and crisp. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes on a cooling rack, but serve them warm! They are okay to eat once cooled for 1 day. Warm & fresh is best!
Note: You can use white sugar or whatever sugar you prefer - I generally think granulated white sugar gives a "higher" sweetness whereas brown sugar or coconut sugar gives a "deeper" sweetness, if that makes any sense. granulated white is more of a "sickly sweet" (sometimes) versus "rich sweetness" of brown or coconut sugar, in my mind...
& happy february!
qp
