A lighter version of the sweet and sticky oriental baklava, as well as the refreshing American cheesecake.
Preheat oven to 180° top/bottom heat.
For this recipe, you need a 26 cm baking mold.
Toast nuts in a hot pan without oil until fragrant.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and salt to caramelize and mix well.
Then chop half of them in a food processor quite finely, remove and set aside.
Roughly chop the other half and set it aside.
You will need the melted butter later.
Beat cream cheese, sugar, salt, vanilla paste, lemon zest, and juice with a mixer until well combined.
Add the eggs one by one, stir in the vanilla pudding powder, and, at the very end, the yogurt.
Chill in the refrigerator until the base is ready.
Melt the butter and the ghee.
Brush the mold with a little melted butter.
Spread out the file pastry and cut into 3 long wide strips.
Set aside 8 stripes and lay the remaining filo pastry stripes in the mold one at a time, brushing each layer with melted butter. Keep the filo pastry covered, otherwise, it will dry out quickly.
Place the finely chopped nuts on the first layer of the filo pastry and spread 2 tablespoons of melted butter on top.
Top with 5 more stripes of filo pastry and brush each layer with the melted butter again.
Next, spread the roughly chopped nuts on top and brush with 2 more tablespoons of melted butter.
Place the remaining filo stripes on top of the nuts and brush again with the butter.
Spread the cheesecake filling on top, smooth it out and tap the mold a few times on your work surface to release the air.
Bake in the preheated oven on the middle rack for 55 -60 minutes, until the top, is golden.
Turn off the heat and let the cheesecake cool in the oven, then chill overnight in the fridge.
The next day, roughly chop pistachios in a food processor.
Finely chop the rose petals in a food processor.
Sprinkle the baklava cheesecake with the chopped pistachios and rose petals.
Serve with fresh berries as an option.
The cake will last for 3-4 days in the fridge.