Chocolate Twists

It’s Monday already. All the goodies I’ve worked so hard to cook and bake are gone, and it’s time to start all over again. And what better way to start than to start with a dessert! Of course, a dessert must be chocolate, according to my own First Rule of Desserts (please click here).

I can totally relate to this sentiment! So I knew that on Monday I would be making something chocolate.

 

Knowing that, I took my phyllo dough out of the freezer the night before and put it in the refrigerator overnight. I found it to be the best way to make it workable without ruining the rest of the package.

For the filling, all you need is butter or substitute (I use Smart Balance), finely chopped walnuts or pecans, brown sugar, and, or course, unsweetened cocoa powder.

 

Make sure your butter substitute is softened, but not melted. Mix it with sugar and cocoa into a paste. Put aside. Preheat the oven to 350 and mist a baking sheet with oil.

Now comes the first tricky part. Separate one phyllo sheet at a time, place it on a board or working surface and mist with oil. For this recipe, I use 5 sheets, misting each one with oil. Spread chocolate paste all the way to the edges and sprinkle walnuts on top. Leave just a bit of chopped walnuts for garnish. Roll the dough like you would roll sushi, starting from the side closest to you and ending seam down. If some filling squeezes out, don’t worry – you’ll need it. Cut the roll into 12 pieces.

The second tricky part is making twists. You have to pick up each piece with both hands, holding it by the cut sides, and twist, with chocolate filling squishing all over your fingers. The most difficult part of this move is to resist temptation to drop everything and start licking your fingers! Set them down on the oiled baking sheet cut side down at a distance from each other. Once you’ve arranged all 12 pieces on the baking sheet, top each twist with the filling that was squeezed out during rolling, cutting, and twisting. Sprinkle with the remaining walnuts and pop into the oven. Bake them for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, you can listen to the original Twist song:

When you take your twists out of the oven, some of the chocolate filling would undoubtedly have run out. Don’t wait for it to cool! Scrape all this gooey delicious stuff and again divide fairly and equally among all 12 twists.

Remove these dainty delectable tidbits right away while they are hot, otherwise they’ll get stuck and might break apart. Now, are we starting our Monday right, or what?

INGREDIENTS

• 5 sheets of phyllo dough (or any flaky dough)
• 1/4 cup butter or substitute (Smart Balance)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

PROCEDURE

• Preheat oven to 350. Lightly mist baking sheet with oil.
• Mix softened butter or substitute with brown sugar and cocoa powder into paste.
• Place defrosted phyllo dough sheet on working surface, lightly mist with oil. Repeat with each dough sheet.
• Spread filling paste on top of dough, completely covering it. Sprinkle walnuts, leaving some for garnish.
• Roll, starting with side closest to you. End seam down. Cut into 12 pieces.
• Twist each piece by holding cut sides in both hands. Place on baking sheet cut side down. Top with squeezed out filling, sprinkle remaining walnuts on top.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from baking sheet while hot, scrape filling, if any, and top twists again.

Enjoy!