Why Didn’t You Wrap the Cookies in Phyllo Dough?
Cookies are the perfect treat, and each one is valuable to society. And yet, recently I unwittingly stumbled upon a wonderful way to improve almost any cookie. To experience the otherworldly crunch phenomenon, simply wrap the cookies in phyllo dough.
Phyllo dough is a paper-thinner dough used in various Middle Eastern and Balkan dishes such as baklava and spanakopita, and can usually be found in the grocery store freezer. While this does not add much flavor, the dough layers are usually covered with thin strips of fat before baking. The fat helps the thin layers fry and they become crispy and have a delicious flaky texture.
Usually thin dough is stuffed to create an impressive dish, whether savory or sweet. Wrapping it around a humble cookie is a big shift in purpose. It never occurred to me to do such a drastic thing until I came across Chip City’s baklava cookies (which aren’t on their regular menu, but you can peek them on their Instagram ). The cookies mimic the taste and texture of classic baklava, and you certainly can’t make them without phyllo. The Phyllo wrap offers a smart way to add that signature crunch, but you don’t have to make baklava to add that exciting texture to your cookies. Any caramel cookie dough will be absolutely breathtaking when wrapped in crispy filo. Drip cookies are one of the most common types of dough in Western cookie culture and include popular varieties such as chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal, Snickerdoodle, and peanut butter cookies. All of these types of dough use chemical leavening agents, such as baking soda or baking powder, and make a thick dough that you scoop out with a spoon and place on a baking sheet. (Shaped biscuits, like cut biscuits, will lose their shape when wrapped, and delicate cookie doughs such as egg white pasta can sacrifice structure and texture under phyllo.)
It takes a few extra steps to turn an ordinary cookie into a buttery, crunchy masterpiece, but the end result is worth it. Here’s what to do.
Prepare cookie dough as usual. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe listed on the back of my Toll House snack bag because my freezer backup was running low. Set the dough aside and cook the filo. Phyllo has no fat of its own and is best crispy when there is fat to fry the layers during cooking. If you don’t layer butter or vegetable oil before baking, the resulting dough will taste dusty or pasty, so place one full sheet of thawed filo on the counter and brush half of it with melted butter.
Fold the non-buttered side over the buttered side. You now have alternating layers of phyllo dough, butter, and more phyllo dough. Oil the entire top side to add another layer of oil to your pattern.
Flip the rectangle. The buttered side will end up on the outside once we wrap the cookie.
Depending on the size of your cookie, you can leave the filo whole or cut it in half. For a mega cookie like the one Chip City makes, use about ¼ cup of dough and a whole sheet of filo. I wanted to make smaller cookies so I cut my sheet in half with a knife as you can see in the picture.
Place a tablespoon of heaped cookie dough in the center of the filo sheet. Wrap it up by folding the top, bottom, left, and right flaps into a loose package. The dough will rise, expand and cook, and if you wrap it too, you risk an eruption – I have a couple of dough rips when making my first batch. For the second one, I folded the flaps more neatly so that the cookie dough had room to expand and the results were perfect. (To be fair, the tainted ones were also fantastically delicious.)
Bake a couple of minutes longer than usual without the phyllo wrap—about 12-15 minutes for the little cookies and up to 20 minutes for the big guys. You’ll know they’re done when the puff pastry starts to brown around the edges on top and golden on the bottom. If in doubt, give him an extra minute. The dough inside will remain soft because it is protected by the outer dough, but you need to make sure it is completely set.
Let the cookie cool completely before diving into it. They are best eaten on the first day, as the flaky layers can soften, especially in a humid environment. My only regret is that I didn’t use salted butter between the filo layers. Learn from my mistakes and heal yourself.