Chocolate Spanakopita

 

 

 

A while ago Dimples made Spanakopita at her cooking class, the savoury version. And at the time it didn’t go down well in DG Manor because both she and her daddy were allergic to cheese. DH still is, but he loves chocolate- another thing he and Dimples have in common-so when I had some filo pastry left over from making Baklava a couple of weeks ago, I was struck by inspiration.

You need to chop- I used scissors- up 6 dried apricots and 6 dried dates into very small pieces. You can add chopped nuts too if you wish, though I didn’t.

Melt 3 tablespoons of Nutella (it may already be soft. I made this on a cold day and the Nutella was the consistency of fudge. Tasty but not at all spreadable.) I melted in the microwave in 30 second bursts. You should do whatever you think is best.

Mix dried fruit into Nutella and stir well.

Brush a strip of filo with melted butter. I made mine with Jus Rol Filo, and cut each sheet down the middle width ways, so that it was 15cm wide and a little longer. Lay so that the short edge (15cm) is in front of you with the longer edge leading away. This will help at the folding stage.

Heap a rounded dessert spoon of the chocolate mix on the bottom left hand of your filo.

Fold the bottom lefthand corner up and over the mound of chocolate, squishing it slightly. Fold the pastry across the right hand edge so that you have created a triangle.

Press down the ends, then fold the chocolate triangle straight up and over onto itself, so that it is still triangular shaped. Repeat all the way along the flio strip folding across and up, keeping the traingle, until you reach the end of the pastry. *

Tuck in any edges, brush with butter and place on a lined baking tray, then repeat until you run out of pastry or chocolate. Mine made 8.

Bake in a hot oven (200C) until golden and crisp.

Serve warm and the chocolate will be oozy and decadent, but cold and they will be fudgy. Winner either way!

 

*if you have ever seen the funeral of an American soldier on TV or film, you will recognise that this is the way they fold the flag up to give to the family.