Crispy Feta Bites, Fun & Easy Appatizer (VIDEO)

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Flaky filo pastry rolled up with feta cheese, kalamata olives and parsley then baked until warm, golden, and crisp. It's a Greek salad in one bite for a crowd, or for a nice addition to your every day salad.  Either way, these crispy feta bites will satisfy you.

How to serve this Crispy Feta Bites?

This finger food in a Greek manner will satisfy a big crowd or your family dinner party. Serve with honey - Greek yogurt sauce or as it is on your every day salad, giving you protein and crunch at the same time.

How to make a Greek yogurt honey sauce?

Very simple: just mix 1 cup of plain full fat Greek yogurt with a 1/4 cup of raw honey. Keep any leftover of this sauce for a week in your fridge.

What do I like about Crispy Feta Bites?

I don’t often cook with filo pastry; I’m normally a hardcore sourdough fan. But I was keen to try something different and you can’t go wrong with filo and feta, right? They turned out so yummy, I’m definitely going to start using filo more.

• Easy and very inexpensive appetizer.

• Easy to find the very few ingredients that are needed.

• Perfect for a make ahead thing to do.

• Great for parties, and vegetarian friends will love you.

• Quick and no fuss finger food that looks fancy.

• Can be serve as it is with some honey-Greek yogurt sauce or as crunchy protein for the salad.

Can I make Crispy Feta Bites ahead?

The feta bites can be rolled and placed on a plate lined with parchment-paper and refrigerated for up to 6 hours before baking. You can roll them up and freeze immediately, then bake as you needed. For this method I would brush them with additional butter. Remember the more butter the crispier feta bites will be.

So how do we make these crispy feta bites…

The process is pretty simple and actually quite fun. Most important is to treat filo right. This can be tricky and filo can scare you away.

1. First of all, defrost filo dough in a fridge slowly.

2. Secondly, keep the filo dough from breaking.

Here is how to do it: take a dough from the freezer and place in a fridge for at least 12 hours. Then unroll one package-- the other one keep in the fridge for another project. Unroll on a baking sheet. And to keep it from drying out, do this: I call it "two towels method": one dry and one damp.

First you lay a dry towel on top of the rolled up filo dough then lay on top damp towel. This way you can even keep dough in a fridge for a several hours.

Cut dough in six squares (make first cut a long way then two cuts a short way) with a pizza cutter. Working with one square at the time. Keep moist and covered with the two towels while you are working with one square at the time.

Cut feta into cubes 1 inch thick. Get your herbs ( I used parsley in the video, but use what ever you have on hand:  mint, dill would a great option as well).

Get your kalamata olives sliced in half.

And, last but not least, the fat:  some people prefer just melted butter, some people prefer just olive oil. But I love the combination of both in 50:50 proportion.

Melt half cup of good quality real butter, and add 1/2 cup of olive oil. Mix together.

Now you are good to go.

Looking for other pastry appetizers? Here’s some of my favorites:

Savory Profiteroles. Shrimp Salad in a Choux Pastry Shell

Black Walnut Crusted Fried Goat Cheese

Crimea - Tatar's Fried Meat Pies, called "Chebureki"

Let's do it...

Prep time: 20 minutes

Making time: 20 minutes

Baking time: 15 minutes

Total time: 55 minutes

Author: Inna of innichkachef.com

Yields: 64 pieces

Ingredients for the Crispy Feta Bites

16 sheets of filo dough (half of the package)

16 ounces feta cheese, cubed

1 cup kalamata olives cut in half

1/2 cup fresh parsley, leaves only

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup sesame seeds (I used black in the video)

1/3 cup honey

Ingredients for the Greek yogurt honey sauce:

1 cup whole fat plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup honey (I prefer local raw honey)

Directions

• Cut thawed filo dough sheet longwise in the middle then crosswise two times to create a six squares. Keep dough covered to prevent dryness and cracking. Work with one square at the time, while the rest of the dough stays covered.

• Combine olive oil and melted butter.

• Place one square sheet on your working space, brush with the olive oil and butter mixture, repeat two more times, 3 filo sheets worked best for me.

• Place on the middle of this square a cube of feta, two olive halves and one or two leaves of parsley or other herbs of your choice. Fold the edges over the feta, then roll. Brush with olive oil to seal. Repeat until all of the phyllo dough and feta have been used.

• Place the feta rolls on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Brush with honey each roll and sprinkle with sesame seeds. If you are not planning to bake right away and want to freeze at this stage, I recommend to brush with additional butter mixture.

• Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

• While the rolls are baking, make the sauce: combine the yogurt and honey. Mix it well.

• Serve the feta rolls right away with the dipping sauce and garnish with fresh herbs ENJOY!.

Notes on how to work with Phyllo Dough:

Keep it in mind it's important to keep the dough covered with two towels, first on the bottom a dry one and then on top you lay a damp towel on top of the dough. When filo dough gets dried out, it cracks. 

I hope you'll make this recipe soon. If you do, please tag me #innichka_chef on Instagram, Facebook, Patreon, or Pinterest.