Banitsa is a Bulgarian dish that has many different variations. It can be filled with white cheese (sirene) and eggs or spinach. Sometimes meat, apples or pumpkin fill its flaky crust. It is served hot or cold for either a breakfast or snack, or it can be filled with fruit and served as a dessert. This variation is a delicious pumpkin variety that works as a dessert (and viable alternative to pumpkin pie, if you are spending Thanksgiving in Bulgaria). The thing that I love about this dessert (besides its scrumptious pumpkin flavor) is that the pumpkin does not need to be cooked first- raw pumpkin works perfectly in this recipe. Oh, the other thing I really like is how low in sugar it is, but you would never know from its rich, sweet flavor!!
Traditionally, ricotta is not involved in pumpkin banitsa, but I really love the creamy texture it adds, and to sweeten it up I added a touch of honey. It is really important to spread the filling as thin as possible to prevent the phyllo dough from breaking when it gets rolled up.
- 1 cup Pumpkin, shredded (about ¼ of a small pumpkin)
- ½ cup Ricotta Cheese
- 1 Tbsp Honey
- ⅓ cup Walnuts, crushed
- 2 tsp Cinnamon or Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 2 Tbsp Sugar
- 8 sheets Phyllo Dough
- 1 tsp Butter, melted (or olive oil)
- Preheat oven to 335F. Combine shredded pumpkin, ricotta and honey. Mix well. In a small container, mix the cinnamon & sugar together.
- Work with 2 sheets of phyllo dough at a time, keep the others covered until you are ready for them.
- Lay out a double layer of phyllo dough. Spread ~1/4 of the pumpkin/ricotta mixture as thin as possible along the phyllo, leaving about a ½" gap across the top of the longest edge to seal the roll.
- Sprinkle some of the cinnamon sugar along the top of the pumpkin mixture and add about 1 tbsp of crushed walnuts, sprinkling evenly along the top.
- Roll the phyllo dough up fairly tightly width wise. Keeping the seam side down, take hold of one end of the roll. Roll the end in tightly along itself, keep going until you have a tight spiral. Place the spiral in a parchment lined pie pan or baking dish.
- Repeat with the next set of 2 sheets of phyllo dough, only instead of spiraling it up on itself, continue where you left off on the first spiral.
- Repeat the process again, continuing to expand the spiral, with the final 2 sets of phyllo sheets.
- When the spiral is finished, brush with a bit of melted butter, sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon sugar and/or nuts. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
- Allow it to cool about 10 minutes. Then serve!
