I believe I ve mentioned in the past how amazing the bakeries in Cyprus are: they are full of mini vegetarian pies: tahini pies, olive pies ,herby cheese pies (flaounas), pumpkin pies. If you are lucky enough to go to Cyprus don’t miss going in a bakery to try the abundant delicious vegetarian pies on offer. As its Halloween today and the pumpkins are in plenty I though I would try to bake my version of the Cypriot sweet pumpkin pie called kolokoti, which is usually eaten during Easter Lent as it is vegan. The classic kolokoti recipe includes pumpkin squares, raisins, fennel leaves and bulgur (which is used to absorb any excess pumpkin water that could lead to soggy pie). Though the pastry in the traditional recipe is thicker I used fillo pastry which is easier to find in London and baked them into parcels. I ve also added quite a few spices when baking the pumpkin, that’s why the pumpkin looks dark in the photo. This recipe is super light as it has almost no sugar (only a teaspoon) as the pumpkin and raisins offer their natural sweetness, and we will be using only half pack of filo pastry.
Ingredients (for 12 pcs)
- 12 baklava filo sheets (almost half a pack)
- 1 tbs of olive or coconut oil to grease the pan
- 200 grs of pumpkin or butternut squash
- 1 tbs of fresh fennel leaves (the leafy part of the fennel)
- 2 tbs of raisins
- 1 tbs bulgur
- 1tsp coconut sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ginger powder
- ¼ tsp cloves in power
Preparation
- Mix in a bowl the spices with the coconut sugar and coat the pumpkin squares by adding them in the bowl. When fully coated add the raisins, fennel leaves and raw bulgur and stir with a spoon.
- Grease a cupcake tray and preheat the oven to 180C.
- Cut the filo sheets in squares.
- Place each square in the greased tray cupcake base and fill the pastry with approx 1tsp of the pumpkin filling.
- Wet your fingers and close the parcels by bringing the opposite pastry corners together, then pressing all 4 corners together and slightly twisting to create the round closure.
- Grease with a brush the pies and bake for 10-15 mins until they start turning gold