Little parcels of filo/phyllo pastry.  Some bulging little purses of apple, blackberry and raspberry compote, others oozing with dark chocolate and sweet vanilla chestnut paste.

Topped with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream, these are bites of heaven – smooth, but crunchy, yet silky beneath.

I had some wild blackberries and raspberries from our garden in the freezer, so defrosted a good handful of them in a sieve. Grabbed two eating apples.

I put the berries and peeled, cored and diced apple into a small saucepan

I mixed 1 tsp cornflour with the juices to make a smooth paste – water would be fine if you use fresh berries and have no juice. Add that to the fruit to thicken it somewhat – runny is not what I wanted.

I brought them, stirring, up to a simmer and cooked until the apple was nearly tender. Sweetened with some splenda (or use caster sugar) and decanted to a dish to cool completely.

I expertly and without injuring myself, opened a tin of chestnut spread and chopped up about 100g dark chocolate. I did that by hand, but Ian bought me a mini chopper (doesn’t that sound… nevermind) for my birthday, so I expect I’ll expertly fling the chocolate into the machine next time.

Sigh. How quickly the artisan cook is seduced by technology.

I then inexpertly opened a packet of filo pastry. The wrapper stuck to the pastry and ripped one sheet. I was not ‘appy. I melted some unsalted butter and located my pastry brush.

The sheets of filo were longer than I anticipated, so I halved them.

Laid one half lengthways and brushed the melted butter over it, then laid the other half the other way. I formed a cross, as you can see (if my pastry had been square, I would have laid them on the cross to get a pointy flower-ish shape):

I put a good teaspoon of chopped chocolate, then a heaped tsp of chestnut paste in the middle of some of them

I put about 2 tsp apple-berry compote in the middle of others

I gathered up each section to form a purse.

Ian took these pics. I didn’t have enough spareness in the hand department.

Harvest festival.

All is safely gathered in.

A persuasive, rather than enforced twist

then allow and encourage the twisted pastry to splay and flop onto the body of the little purse.

Give it another brush with some more butter and place on to a baking sheet covered with a non-stick liner. I imagine you could use well-buttered paper, but these things are pretty, well, sticky.

Bake at GM 9 /260C/ 475F for 8-10 mins.

Now, two of mine looked like this (no one likes a leaky purse) :

but the others looked like this:

Aesthetically, the chocolate and chestnut ones were best because they kept their shape and lifted from the liner effortlessly. The apple-berry ones were more reluctant to lift, but that could have been remedied by a little less of the filling and cooking them for the full 10 mins, rather than the chickening out that I experienced at 8 minutes.

Taste-wise, I was thrilled with them both. The chocolate and chestnut was as glorious as you can imagine – it’s melted chocolate and sweet chestnut oozing on to your plate, after all.

The apple-berry ones were a delight – miniature Autumn pies but with that enticing and brittle crunch of the filo. Both were enhanced by a billow of lightly whipped cream.

A very pleasing and not too filling end to a meal. As Alex would say, “We’ll be making those again!”

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Filo Parcels

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1 package filo pastry

unsalted butter, melted

2 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced
handful blackberries, defrosted in a nylon sieve, juice reserved
handful raspberries, defrosted in a nylon sieve, juice reserved
1 tsp cornflour
Icing sugar or Splenda to taste

1 small tin sweetened chestnut paste
100g dark chocolate, chopped

To make the apple-berry compote:
In a small saucepan, put the defrosted berries and diced apple.
In a very small bowl, mix the cornflour with a little of the berry juice that seeped out when they defrosted. If using fresh berries, mix the cornflour with a little cold water.
Add that to the saucepan, bring to the boil, then simmer until the apple is just tender.
Add icing sugar or Splenda to taste.
Remove to a bowl to cool.

Open the filo, remove one oblong sheet and slice it in half (cover the remainder with a damp tea towel – they will break up if you allow them to dry out).
Brush the first half with melted butter, then lay the second one on top at an angle to it – you’re trying to get as even a shape as possible, so a cross shape or a pointy flower shape is good.
If your filo is square, then just use two sheets.

Put a tablespoon of apple-berry compote in the middle and gather the edges up. Give them a gently twist and allow the ends to splay over the parcel.
Place on a non-stick liner or buttered parchment on a baking sheet.

For the chocolate versions, put a couple of teaspoons of chocolate in the middle and dollop a teaspoon of chestnut paste on top of that and gather up.

Brush the parcel with melted butter and bake at GM 9 /260C/ 475F for 8-10 mins.
Remove to a plate and serve immediately with some sweetened, whipped cream. Or ice cream. Or clotted cream…

2 Responses to “Sweet Filo Parcels”

1. MIL aka auntie rene says:

   1 December, 2009 at 5:47 pm

   Oh please can I move in with you, I can almost smell these & would I love to try them yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.
   I would really take on the maternal size, to select & eat so many of your recipes.
   Oh well back to reality, lamb stew tomorrow.
2. Anna says:

   6 December, 2009 at 10:39 am

   There’s plenty of room in the garage, Rene. You don’t mind reems of ivy creeping over your face whilst you cuddle up to a crab trap do you? Excellent. I’ll make up the bed.