Cheesecake Filling

• 22 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1.5 tsp rose water

Crust

• 10 sheets phyllo pastry
• 1 cup walnuts, halved
• 1/4 cup pistachios, whole and unsalted/lightly salted
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Syrup

• 2/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 lemon, juice only
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1.5 tsp rose water

Preheat the oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and Greek yogurt and continue to mix. Add the flour, vanilla, and rose water and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Add the walnuts and pistachios to a pan and dry roast on medium heat (about 3 minutes). Remove from the heat, and allow to cool. Transfer nuts to a food processor, and pulse until chopped finely (do not turn into a powder).

Lightly grease an 8-10″ springform pan with butter. Place one sheet of phyllo in the pan. Add another one on top (rotating 90 degrees so the excess covers all the sides). Brush liberally with the melted butter. Sprinkle a fourth of the chopped nuts evenly on top. Repeat the process of adding the 2 sheets of phyllo, melted butter, and roasted nuts 3 more times. Cover the final layer of nuts with the remaining 2 sheets of phyllo. Pour the cheesecake filling into this prepared crust. Trim the overhanging pastry sheets with a pair of scissors, just along the top edge of the springform pan. This should leave about 1″- 2″ of the crust above the filling.

Bake in the preheated oven for 75 minutes at 375F, or until the cake is golden and has the slightest of the wobble n the center. Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside for 20 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar.

While the cheesecake is sitting in the oven, prepare the syrup by boiling the water with the sugar, cinnamon stick, lemon juice, and honey. Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer on low for about 10 minutes until the syrup has thickened. Take out the cinnamon stick and let the syrup cool a little. Add the rose water.

Take your cheesecake out of the oven, place on a large pan (like a jellyroll pan), and very carefully remove the ring from the cake tin. Pour or ladle the syrup around the edges of the cheesecake (while it is still hot) where the baked phyllo sheets are, so they absorb it (it’s okay if some gets on the cheesecake).

Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature for 2 -3 hours for the syrup to get soaked in, then refrigerate it overnight. Garnish with more chopped pistachios.