Spanikopita Muffins

Rooted in Greek tradition, this recipe simplifies a classic without sacrificing flavor.

• 20 oz mix of chopped fresh spinach and a bit of kale (up to 1/4 of total, stalks removed)
• 2 small onions
• 5 eggs
• 8 oz fresh feta
• ¼ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• ½ package phyllo (8 oz) slightly chilled
• ½ stick of butter or a bit less of ghee, melted, room temp
• Dab of salt

2 12-holer muffin tins

Pulse fresh spinach and kale in food processor in a few batches, until small bits, well shy of mush. Place in large bowl. Pulse onions until minced and add to spinach. Pulse egg and feta until frothy. Add to spinach. Whip all together with a spatula, combining thoroughly. This is a good time for a break; stow this mixture in the fridge until you are ready to bake the muffins, up to an hour. Recombine before continuing.

When ready, preheat oven to 350.  Brush muffin tins liberally with butter. Thoroughly wet a kitchen towel, wring out, and spread out flat on countertop. Have a large kitchen knife at the ready, then unwrap the phyllo and lay it upon the towel. Cut the dough into six equal square. Remove one of the six stacks and cover the remaining stacks with the wet towel until needed.

Use 2-3 squares of dough per muffin hole. (It’s tricky to extract just a few layers from a stack, licking one’s finger helps) and press into the tin. Sprinkle a few pinches of parmesan cheese into each cup, then layer another 1-2 additional squares of dough, pressing into shape, forming a muffin “wrapper.” Scoop ¼ cup of spinach feta egg mixture into each phyllo cup. Tuck all into center of cup. Brush top liberally with remaining butter or ghee. Into the heated oven they go, for about 20 minutes. When browned and slightly bubbly, remove from oven. Using a table knife pop the muffins onto a rack to cool.

Devour when cool enough not to burn your mouth. Serve warm.

Makes 24 muffins. Refrigerate for up to two weeks, freeze for up to three months.

REHEATING SUGGESTIONS

For best results/best for batch reheat: Reheat for 10 mins in 325 degree oven.
Also works/great for single serving: Microwave for 20 seconds then pop into the toaster oven for a minute.

Every Recipe Has a Story…

This is the index card my daughter, McKenna (aka Mac), brought home after a cooking session with her grandmother Tess, her Yia-Yia, to use the Greek term used by their family. This was a few years ago, and Mac had kindly agreed to a casual cooking lesson, and to take notes, because I needed a refresher on how to make the family’s signature Spanikopita. I had originally learned it in Yia-Yia’s kitchen well over a decade before, when I was new to the family, before McKenna was born, before her father and I went our separate ways. The recipe was a family favorite, it was infused with healthful spinach and eggs, and it was one of the few things McKenna ate with any regularity that qualified as a serving of vegetables.

Somewhere along the path of McKenna growing up and our various families taking their different loving shapes, my memory of how to properly make spanikopita failed me, and I turned out pan after pan of not-quite-right versions that Mac refused to eat. Sometimes I added too much kale or tatsoi, a by-product of bountiful farm shares. Not a fan of cottage cheese, I tried differing amounts of Greek yogurt, ricotta, and mascarpone.

McKenna’s dad and I had agreed I wouldn’t spend time with Yia-Yia, so as not to make it uncomfortable for his new wife. While I love Yia-Yia deeply, I understood, and it was an opportunity for Mac to learn the family recipe from its creator. What I love about the index card is that it mixes McKenna’s and Tess’s handwriting—Mac’s directions for “prozezer,” which when pronounced ala that spelling approaches onomatopoeia—are intertwined with Tess’s underlined reminders: do not wash the spinach and must use fresh.

Shortly after the lesson, McKenna and I made these two beautiful pies.

Upon tasting, Mac declared them not quite like Tess’s.

After that, I gave up making spanikopita for a while because every time I made it, I was the only one who ate it. It never measured up to Yia-Yias, even after a refresh on the recipe.

Enter Covid. When I started going back to work, the cafe in our library was closed. Busy staff who were used to having anytime access to a snack bar now brought food from home every day. To brighten people’s spirits, I started baking for my coworkers, focusing on things that could be wrapped individually: chocolate chip cookies, walnut brownies, muffins of all sorts: pumpkin, coffee cake, chocolate zucchini. I made fig-sweetened granola scones. I decorated red, white, and blue cupcakes to celebrate Inauguration Day.

My sweet tooth is weak, and I longed for something savory. As well, I have a bounty of fresh eggs from my small brood of hens. The idea for spanikopita Muffins was born.

I simplified the original ingredients list, skipping the cottage cheese. I find working with small squares of phyllo dough much easier than full sheets, and using an ice scream scoop to fill the muffin cups keeps mess to a minimum.

Has McKenna declared these as good as Yia-Yia’s? Not yet, but my coworkers give them two thumbs up.