Phyllo Dough

Phyllo-wrapped goat cheese gives this salad served at Un Grand Café in Chicago, Illinois, an elegant touch.

Things made with phyllo are generally off-limits to dieters. Try this light version of the classic Greek dish with fruit and a tossed salad for a satisfying meal.

The traditional b'stilla is an enormous pigeon or chicken pie wrapped in golden paper-thin pastry leaves. However, we made individual pies for ease of serving. The idea of meat mixed with spices and encased in pastry was brought to Morocco by Arabs from the Middle East; the delicate pastry sheets, it is thought, came specifically from Persia. Spices play a big part in Moroccan cooking. This legendary spice mixture is translated as "top of the shop."

These savory pastry packages are a fitting presentation for Oscar night - plus they're perfect with the ham. This recipe makes few extras for second helpings.

Called om Ali, which means "mother of Ali," this slightly sticky and unusual dessert flavored with orange flower water is currently the most popular pudding in Egypt. In the villages it is made with bread, while in the cities a more sophisticated version is made with phyllo pastry. Orange flower water is a flavoring extract available at liquor stores and in the liquor or specialty foods section of some supermarkets nationwide.

An adaptation of a recipe from Nashville's Zola restaurant. Chef-owner Debra Paquette and pastry chef Renée Kasman created this sophisticated dessert.

Antalya is known for its oranges. Wherever they are grown in abundance, the blossoms are distilled into orange flower water. This fragrant liquid flavors the syrup that is drizzled over these nut-filled spiral phyllo pastries. The name comes from their shape and the notion that some people's idea of heaven is listening to nightingales. Serve them with strawberries and whipped cream for an elegant presentation. Orange flower water is a flavoring extract which is available at liquor stores and in the liquor or specialty foods sections of some supermarkets nationwide.

A real winner: Delicate "purses" of phyllo pastry hold a banana and hazelnut filling. They're served with white chocolate sauce and a crunchy hazelnut crumble.

The pastry chefs at Spago make fresh strudel dough, but we call for packaged phyllo here. For the breadcrumbs, finely grind crustless white sandwich bread in a processor, then toast the crumbs in a 350°F oven until dry, about 10 minutes. You'll need two 14-cube ice-cube trays for the filling.

We couldn't wait to get into our test kitchens to try Rosie’s baklava ice-cream cake. As inspired as the dessert was, it was also a big production, resulting in a giant cake with 2 layers of ice cream and 3 layers of baklava. With Rosie's permission, we downscaled the recipe and tweaked it a bit, for a dessert that’s still delicious but more manageable. When working with phyllo, be sure to have plenty of clear counter space and a chunk of uninterrupted time. Phyllo dries out in the blink of an eye, so it is imperative that you keep your stack of phyllo sheets well-covered and work only with 1 sheet at a time. Allow at least 20 minutes to chop the nuts by hand.

This recipe for breiks comes from Kitty Morse, the celebrated expert on North African cuisine. She serves them with lemon and harissa paste, available at Middle Eastern Markets.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr Savory pastries are a popular element of Turkish cuisine, with a seemingly endless number of shapes and fillings. These little rolls are called sigara böregi, or pastry cigars, because of their shape.

Lightly sweetened whipped cream is a nice addition to this delicious dessert.