Armenian Cheese Boereg Recipes

GRANDMA LOU'S CHEESE BOEREG

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Combine farmer cheese, Muenster cheese, eggs, and parsley in a bowl. Add salt; mix well.
• Arrange phyllo dough lengthwise on a flat work surface; cut into 3 strips. Brush some butter lightly over 1 strip of phyllo. Cover remaining strips to keep them from drying out.
• Spoon 1 teaspoon of the farmer cheese mixture on the edge closest to you; fold over 2 sheets of phyllo to make a triangle. Fold again to form another triangle; continue folding to the end of the strip. Brush top with butter. Repeat with remaining phyllo strips, butter, and cheese mixture. Transfer triangles to baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

BOEREGS (FLAKY ARMENIAN PUFF PASTRY) AS MADE BY BLAKE BESHARIAN RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Make the herbed feta filling: Heat the olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the nutmeg and cumin and stir to combine, then remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool completely.
• In a food processor, combine the spinach, parsley, rodopa cheese, egg, and the cooled onion mixture and pulse until broken down into a chunky paste. Transfer the filling to a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the food processor.
• Make the melted Kashkaval filling: Add the parsley, chives, egg, and Kashkaval cheese to the clean food processor and pulse until the mixture breaks down into a chunky paste. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line 2 baking sheets, or as many as you have, with parchment paper.
• Assemble the boeregs: Unroll the filo dough and cut crosswise into 3½-inch (9 cm) wide strips. Cover the filo dough with a damp towel while you fill the boeregs.
• Lay a strip of dough lengthwise on a cutting board. Holding the top of the dough with your left index finger, brush a thin layer of melted butter over the length of the dough. Scoop ½ tablespoon of filling at the top center of the strip, about ½ inch (1 ¼ cm) from the top. Fold the top left corner of the dough over the filling to make a triangle. Brush more melted butter on the top of the triangle, then continue folding and brushing until you reach the end of the dough strip, trimming any excess dough that doesn't fold all the way over. Transfer to a prepared baking sheet and cover with a kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining dough strips and filling to make about 24 boereg with each filling. Reserve any leftover dough for another use.
• In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks with the water.
• Brush the egg wash over the boeregs, then sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
• Bake the boeregs for 10-12 minutes, until golden, flaky, and crisp. Serve warm.
• Enjoy!

MICHAEL ARAM'S CHEESE BOEREGS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the cheeses, parsley, salt, eggs, and baking powder until well-combined.
• Take the dough out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes before using. Unwrap the dough. Note: once fillo dough is exposed to air, it dries out very quickly, becomes brittle and is impossible to use. Be sure to have plastic wrap and a lightly dampened kitchen towel ready to cover the dough to keep it pliable while you fold the boeregs.
• Fold each sheet in half (or in thirds, depending on size of the sheet) lengthwise. Brush dough surface generously with melted butter.
• For each boereg, place a spoonful of filling at the end of the folded dough that's closest to you. Begin folding, as though you were folding a flag - on the diagonal from corner to corner, creating a triangular shape. If there is extra dough at the top, just trim it off or tuck it under.
• Continue to do this until you run out of filling - or - dough.
• Keep the folded boeregs covered with plastic wrap. NOTE: At this point, you can prepare the boeregs for freezing by placing them in a plastic container large enough to hold the amount you are preparing, making sure you use plastic wrap or waxed paper between each stacked layer to prevent the boeregs from sticking together. Cover tightly with the lid, label, date, & freeze.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Place boeregs on an ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

BORAGS

Steps:

• Take the dough out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes before using. Once fillo dough is exposed to air, it dries out very quickly, becomes brittle, and is impossible to use. Be sure to have plastic wrap and a damp towel ready to cover the dough to keep it pliable while you fold the borags.
• If using large fillo sheets, cut the fillo dough in half, lengthwise. Use one half sheet for each borag. Cover the other sheets first with plastic wrap, then the damp towel, while folding each borag.
• Fold each half sheet in half lengthwise. Brush surface with melted butter.
• For each borag, place a spoonful of filling at the end of the folded dough that's closest to you. Begin folding, as though you were folding a flag - on the diagonal from corner to corner, creating a triangular shape. If there is extra dough at the top, just trim it off or tuck it under.
• Continue to do this until you run out of filling - or dough.
• Keep the folded borags covered with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out.
• Melt about ½ stick (or more) of unsalted butter.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Brush the top of each borag with melted butter.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Return leftover fillo it to its original wrapper, seal it tightly, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• Leftover cheese filling can be spread on bread then heated under the broiler. There's raw egg in the mixture, so cook before eating!
• Use the same cheese filling as above.
• Instead of using regular fillo dough sheets, use prepared mini-fillo cups (sold in packages of 15). They can be found in the freezer section of most grocery stores.
• Fill each cup almost to the top with the filling. The amount of cheese filling given in this recipe will fill about 3 boxes of the mini-fillo cups - or - about 45.
• Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 - 12 minutes.

MOCK SOU BOREG (ARMENIAN MACARONI AND CHEESE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with 1 teaspoon butter.
• Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil. Stir in egg noodles and return to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 6 minutes. Drain.
• Mix Monterey Jack cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, and salt together in bowl. Pour half into another bowl. Add parsley to 1 of the bowls.
• Spread half of the egg noodles into the prepared baking pan; pour in cheese and parsley mixture. Add remaining egg noodles; top with remaining cheese mixture. Dot with remaining 1 teaspoon butter.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is golden brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Cut into squares.

EASY CHEESE BOREK (ARMENIAN CHEESE TURNOVERS)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

CHEESE BORAGS (ARMENIA)

Steps:

• Mix the three cheeses with the egg. Set aside.
• Cover the phyllo dough with a piece of plastic wrap, then put a damp towel over the plastic wrap. This helps prevent drying.
• Take one sheet of Phyllo and fold it in half. Brush the folded sheet with melted butter.
• Put a spoonful of the filling onto the lower right corner of the sheet.
• Now fold the sheet over the filling, from corner to corner, as if you were folding a flag. You should have a triangle. Fold again, and one more time. Trim off any excess dough.
• Repeat until you have used all the filling.
• Brush the top of each borag with melted butter, then bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the borags turn a golden brown color. Serve hot.

CHEESE BOEREG

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the egg, egg white, ricotta and parsley. Stir in mozzarella cheese; set aside. , Unroll phyllo dough; cut the stack of sheets in half widthwise. Place one sheet of phyllo dough in a greased 13x9-in. baking pan; brush with butter. Repeat nine times (keep remaining dough covered with plastic wrap to avoid drying out)., Spread cheese mixture evenly over top. Layer with remaining dough, brushing butter on every other sheet. , Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into triangles or squares.

ARMENIAN CHEESE BOEREG

Steps:

• Mix cheeses together with 1 beaten egg and parsley.
• Melt butter in a small frying pan.
• Bring fillo dough to room temperature. Unroll dough on wax paper, cut in half for appetizer size boereg. stack and cover with saran wrap and a damp towel.
• Take one sheet of filo, with short side facing you. Brush entire sheet with melted butter. Place half a teaspoon of cheese a little to the right of center, toward the bottom of the sheet. Fold right side over cheese, and left side over top, in thirds.
• Brush with butter, and fold up the bottom over the cheese ball, then fold over diagonally. Continue to fold diagonally, left and right, until you reach the top and you will have a triangular shaped boereg, around 3 inches across bottom.
• Spray sheet pan with PAM and butter tops of boereg before baking.
• Preheat over to around 300-325 and bake for about 20 minutes, until very light brown.

CHEESE BOEREG / FETA PHYLLO TRIANGLES

Steps:

• Combine filling ingredients, set aside
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly oil a pan
• Remove defrosted phyllo dough from box, spread open and cover with damp towel
• Melt butter and mix with oil
• Remove one sheet of phyllo and brush all over with butter/oil mix
• Cut the phyllo sheet down the middle vertically and fold each 1/2 sheet in half, so you have two long strips of dough
• Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese mix at the bottom right corner of the dough strip
• Fold the left side over the cheese to form a triangle point. Fold up and over again, as though you're folding a flag.
• Keep folding until you have a triangle - brush tops with butter/oil and sprinkle with nigella seeds (if using)
• Place in prepared pan and bake until golden brown.