Yoghurt cream with sticky apricots and filo wafer
This is satisfyingly sweet without being overly filling. You’ll make more of the filo wafer than you need, but you’ll be happy for it: the egg white brushed on top makes it especially crisp, and it’ll keep in an air-tight container for crumbling over ice-cream or creamy oats.
Prep
25 min
Cook
35 min
Serving size
4 people
Ingredients
For the filo wafer:
4 sheets good-quality filo pastry
40g unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp flaked sea salt
3⅔ tbsp caster sugar
1 egg white, beaten (30g)
For the yoghurt cream:
200ml double cream
1 tbsp caster sugar
1½ tsp vanilla bean paste
120g thick-set Greek yoghurt
8 cardamom pods, bashed open, shells removed and seeds finely crushed in a mortar
For the sticky apricots:
60g runny honey
30g caster sugar
⅛ tsp tsp flaked sea salt
5 cardamom pods, bashed open with the flat of a knife
1-2 lemons, zested, to get 6 strips of finely shaved skin, and juiced, to get 2 tbsp
90g soft dried apricots, each cut into 3-4 strips
1½ tsp orange blossom water
Method
1. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. First, make the filo wafer, keeping the filo sheets under a damp cloth so they don’t dry out. Lay out one sheet of filo on a clean, dry worktop and brush all over with a third of the butter. Sprinkle over a third of a teaspoon of cinnamon, a quarter-teaspoon of flaked salt and two teaspoons of sugar. Lay another sheet of filo on top of the first sheet, and repeat the brushing and sprinkling process twice more to use up three sheet of filo, all the remaining butter, cinnamon and salt and all but two teaspoons of the sugar. Lay the fourth and final sheet of filo on top, then brush all over with the beaten egg white – you will need only about two-thirds of it to cover. Sprinkle over the remaining two teaspoons of sugar and transfer to a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until deeply golden, then remove and leave to cool completely. Once cool, break into random, bite-sized shards.
2. While the filo is baking, make the yoghurt cream. Put the cream, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk to barely soft peaks (take care not to over-whisk it, because the cream will thicken slightly when it’s chilled). With a spatula, gently fold in the yoghurt and cardamom, then refrigerate until nice and cold.
3. Now make the sticky apricots. Put the honey, sugar and salt in a small, nonstick frying pan set over a medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for four minutes, until the mixture is bubbling and starting to brown. Add the cardamom pods and lemon strips, and cook for 90 seconds more, until very fragrant and nicely coloured. Take off the heat, then immediately stir in the apricots, lemon juice, orange blossom water and two tablespoons of cold water, then set aside to cool completely (the syrup will thicken as it sits).
4. Divide the cold yoghurt cream between four small bowls, top with the some of the sticky apricots and a shard of filo wafer, and serve with extra filo wafers in bowls alongside.