Kourkoubinia (Kourkoumpinia) are little heavenly bites made of rolled phyllo pastry bathed in aromatic syrup. Kourkoubinia (Kourkoumpinia) belong to the category of ‘siropiasta’ desserts, which means desserts bathed in syrup! They closely resemble baclava (baklava), a ‘naked’ baclava. They may lack the delicious nutty filling of baclava but they are equally delicious and can be served with chopped nuts! Simply irresistible!
The ingredients to make these homemade traditional mouth-watering little roll bites are minimal and most are cupboard staples! All you need is a packet or two of Phyllo pastry (Greek phyllo packets are 450g) along with sugar, lemon, orange peel and vegetable oil.
How to prepare homemade kourkoubinia
Preparing Kourkoumpinia is very easy – just follow my steps below:
Prepare the syrup
Pour water and sugar in a saucepan.Add orange, lemon peel, cinnamon stick, star anise along with a teaspoon of lemon juice. Bring this to boil and let it boil for a further 4-5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the saucepan from the stove/ hob and let it cool down.
The secret to perfectly crispy and syrupy Kourkoumpinia is to dunk them hot in cold syrup!
Preparing kourkoubinia/ phyllo roll bites
Lay the phyllo sheets on a clean kitchen counter and take two phyllo sheets at a time. Place once sheet on top of the other. As using a single phyllo sheet will make for a very small phyllo roll, I always use two layers. Moreover, most phyllo packets outside Greece tend to have thinner phyllo sheets!
Brush the phyllo sheets with either melted butter or oil so that they stick to each other. Fold the two phyllo sheets a quarter of the way up and then start rolling them. Seal the edges of the phyllo with water. You will end up with a roll of phyllo pastry. Repeat the process until you have run out of phyllo pastry sheets.
Place them in the fridge for approximately 20 minutes so that they become firm and easier to slice. Slice each phyllo roll into 1.5-2cm or 0.6-0.8 inches sections. A packet of 250g has 10 phyllo sheets which will give you 5 phyllo rolls.
Frying
In a large saucepan, pour some sunflower oil ( vegetable oil) and deep fry a batch of these phyllo rolls. Fry them for a couple of minutes and remove them as soon as they turn light golden, as otherwise they will burn and turn bitter.
If you have a deep fat fryer, you can fry them there too. Make sure you pour new, unused, vegetable oil for the kourkoubinia. I always use sunflower (vegetable) oil rather than olive oil as olive oil cannot withstand the high temperatures required for frying these little bites.
Finally, place the fried phyllo rolls in a baking tray lined by kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
Dunking into syrup
Dunk the hot phyllo rolls, few at a time, in the cold syrup for approximately 5-6 seconds each until the syrup has soaked through to the middle!
How to serve kourkoubinia
As its easiest, kourkoubinia can be served as they are. You can also drizzle them with honey and dust them with cinnamon if you like them extra sweet and more aromatic!. You can also sprinkle with crushed nuts such as walnuts, almonds or pecans.
To make your kourkoubinia super indulgent, melt chocolate in a Bain Marie and dip them in, covering them with chocolate! These are my daughter’s favourite dessert! And they are simply delicious!
Chocolate dipped Kourkoubinia (Kourkoumpinia)
To prepare chocolate dipped Kourkoubinia (Kourkoumpinia) , simply dip them into melted chocolate. Allow the excess syrup form these phyllo roll bites to drain. Chocolate will not coat extra syrupy Kourkoumpinia. Let the Kourkoumpinia rest for a bit on kitchen paper towel. In bain-marie , melt 200g chocolate with a little bit of butter and dip them into chocolate.
How long do kourkoubinia last for?
These lovely phyllo rolls can last up to 5-6 days in an airtight container. Should there be any left that is!
Other syrupy phyllo recipes
If you like crispy syrupy phyllo desserts, then have a look at my Gianniotiko / Giannotiko -Syrupy Rolled Phyllo and Kataifi pastry with walnuts recipe, which is a combination of baklava and Kataifi!
