Pistachio Filo Bird Nests
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A delightful and easy dessert that is made with crispy, thin filo pastry, pistachio nuts and a simple lemon syrup!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • For the filo pastry nests:
  • ½ package thin filo pastry, at room temperature
  • 6 oz. butter, melted
  • 2 TBSPS. granulated sugar
  • ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
  • For the lemon simple syrup:
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1¼ cups water
  • juice of half a lemon
  • zest of half a lemon
  • For the topping:
  • ½ cups pistachio nuts, very finely chopped
  • 1 TBSP. sugar
  • 2 TBSP. honey, warmed for drizzling (optional)
Instructions
  1. Defrost the filo dough overnight in your refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature, about an hour before you plan to make the recipe, still covered in its packaging. Mix the sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
  2. Prepare the lemon simple syrup. In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and the water to a boil, reduce the temperature to low, and simmer uncovered for 6 minutes. When the syrup has thickened slightly, stir in the lemon juice and the zest, simmer for one more minute, and remove the syrup from the heat.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  4. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Brush some of it on an unlined sheet pan.
  5. Open the filo package and unroll the filo dough. Remove 6 sheets of filo (each 14" x 18") and cut through the center of the longer side of the stack, so you are left with 12 sheets of 14" x 9" filo. Return the rest of filo sheets to its packaging and the refrigerator. Make a stack with the 12 sheets of filo that you will need for the recipe, cover them with a piece of plastic wrap, followed by a kitchen towel so it does not dry out.
  6. Form the filo nests. Place one sheet of filo on a clean surface with the shorter end of it in front of you. With a pastry brush, brush the filo lightly with some melted butter. Sprinkle it with a little of the sugar-cinammon mixture. Fold an inch of the side of the filo closest to you (which should be the shorter end) over itself, then place a thin, ¼" wooden dowel along the top of that folded side. The idea is that the dowel does not touch the buttered filo (it might stick otherwise). Roll up the filo around the dowel loosely, leaving an inch at the end after rolling (this will become the base of the nests). Using your hands, gently push the rolled-up pastry from both ends towards the center of the dowel to compress the filo and form wrinkles (the finished filo will be about 6" long). Carefully pull the dowel from the wrinkled filo. Bend the ends to form a circle shape and lay it on a buttered sheet pan.
  7. Form the rest of the filo nests. Repeat until you use up all the rest of the filo. Brush lightly the tops of the nests with some melted butter and bake in a preheated oven, on the middle rack, for about 30 minutes, or, until the filo is golden brown.
  8. Pour the syrup over filo nests. As soon as the filo nests come out of the oven, pour the syrup evenly over them (about 2 TBSPS. over each nest) and set aside allowing them time to absorb the syrup and cool completely. Some of the syrup will run off the nests, but it will eventually be reabsorbed by the nests as they rest.
  9. Mix the pistachio nuts with the sugar. Place about one TBSP. of the mixture in the middle of each nest. If using honey, the last step is to warm the honey slightly and drizzle it lightly over all the filo nests. If not, drizzle some of the remaining lemon syrup over the nests.
Notes
-- You can use a mini food processor to chop the pistachio nuts. Just pulse them a couple of times until you achieve the desired consistency!

-- The lemon syrup is probably going to be a bit more than what you need. Save it in a small container and drizzle some over the filo nests the next day, if they need it.
Recipe by Marilena's Kitchen at https://marilenaskitchen.com/filo-bird-nests-with-pistachios/