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Delight your taste buds with a spooky Baked Intestine Pie that is creepily delicious. This recipe will send shivers down your spine!

I can’t believe that Halloween is just around the corner! It felt like summer forever, so it didn’t seem like fall or anywhere near time for Halloween. But here it is! Just a few weeks away. I’m just glad the weather is cooler. I cannot stand being hot.

What is sweet banitsa?

No, this isn’t actually a baked intestine pie. They don’t have any intestines in there either. This recipe is based off a Bulgarian pastry called banitsa. I had something similar in Bosnia, but it wasn’t a sweet version.

Traditional banitsa is layers of phyllo dough wrapped around a yogurt, egg, and brined cheese like feta and baked in the oven. The phyllo and filling are rolled into logs and then wrapped in a circle in a baking pan to form a circle that is sliced and served. They’re typically served for breakfast and are eaten hot or cold. Some variations to the traditional banitsa include adding vegetables like spinach and mushrooms and some are made with ground meats and mushrooms.

This is a sweet version of the Balkan treat. Mine includes cream cheese, cottage cheese, sugar, and sweet spices like cinnamon and vanilla. There’s a hint of lemon zest in there to brighten the flavors. Other sweet versions of this dish include apples or pumpkins. The pumpkin version is similar to bundevara which is a strudel like dish filled with grated pumpkin.

Banitsa is typically eaten around holidays. It is filled with coins, charms, and sometimes foil wrapped messages. Similar to a king cake, but I don’t think the person that gets the foil wrapped message has to make the banitsa the next year. That’s the tradition with the baby in the king cake.

What ingredients are in baked intestine pie?

It starts with phyllo dough. Sometimes it can be quite finicky to handle, but with a few tips and tricks you can master using phyllo dough in your recipes. First and foremost, do not rush the thawing process. Make sure to pop it in the fridge the night before. If you thaw the phyllo on the counter it makes for an uneven thaw and could dry the dough out.

Make sure to butter between each layer. And make sure to butter all the way to the corners on every layer. This provides those crispy and delicious layers you see in phyllo dough recipes. Each layer can soak up as much as 1 tablespoon so do the math and make sure you don’t run out of butter or oil.

The most important tip is to keep it moist. It doesn’t take long for phyllo dough to dry out. I make sure I have damp paper towels or a clean kitchen towel covering the dough while I butter the layers. This will keep it from drying it. There is nothing more frustrating than reaching for a layer and having the edges start to dry out and become brittle. It makes you not want to work with phyllo dough ever again!

How do you make baked intestine pie?

First, preheat the oven to 375 F. It can warm up while you prepare the banitsa for baking. While the oven warms up combine the cream cheese with the cottage cheese, sugar, egg, lemon zest and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer until creamy.

Now, I opted for a single serve cottage cheese. I don’t keep it in the house and it’s not something I eat regularly. So, buying a larger container for the half cup I needed didn’t make sense. I purchased a combo pack that was cottage cheese with a topping. A strawberry topping to be exact. Now, it’s up to you if you want to do this and add the strawberry topping when you’re rolling your intestines.

Next, it’s time to get layering! Melt the butter and brush one sheet of dough top with another sheet of dough and repeat until you have 8 layers of phyllo dough. Make sure to cover the rest of the dough while you finish this section of intestine.

Spoon some of the cream cheese mixture on one edge of the phyllo stack. Carefully, and tightly, roll the phyllo dough up. Now, you can either make a round like they do with banitsa or you can make intestine looking squiggles in the cake pan. I went with intestine-like squiggles.

Once the pan is full, brush any remaining butter on top. Put the pan in the oven at 375 and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the phyllo is golden and crispy. Allow it to cool slightly before slicing and serving. Or you can let it cool to room temperature before serving.

If you want, you can make a cherry glaze with some cherry juice and powdered sugar to drizzle over the top and make them look even more gory. I had the strawberry topping in mine to achieve something similar. Maybe try a matcha green glaze! It’s totally up to you how gory you want it to look.

This simple and sweet treat is super fun to make into intestines for your Halloween party. Or make the more traditional banitsa and form circles with the phyllo dough. With such few ingredients, it’s something you can easily whip up any time you want a sweet and crunchy delicious dessert.

This also is a great recipe to have on hand for the upcoming holidays. It’s great for a brunch or to make ahead of time and reheat for breakfast when your family is visiting. Since it’s simple to make and something you can easily customize it will be a new go to recipe for you friends and family.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Welcome to 2023’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek event!

If you’re new here, Welcome! If you’re a returning haunt, welcome back!

#HalloweenTreatsWeek is a yearly Halloween blogging event that is hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife . You’ll find that this fun and spooky event is an online, week-long event that is filled with some frightfully fun Halloween treats and recipes from some fantastic Halloween loving bloggers!

For this years 6th annual #HalloweenTreatsWeek event we have 18 hauntingly talented bloggers that are sharing their favorite Halloween recipes throughout the week! You can following the hashtag #HalloweenTreatsWeek on social media to collect all of these frightful recipes to use at your own Halloween parties and events!

Make Sure to check out all of the fun Halloween recipes that we’re sharing this week!

Today’s Halloween Offerings:

• Evil Dragon Deviled Eggs from Big Bear’s Wife
• Chocolate Cherry Skull Cakes from Semi Homemade Recipes
• Witch Hat Garlic Bread from Cheese Curd In Paradise
• Candy Corn Cookie Cake from The Spiffy Cookie
• Wicked Good Apple Cider Muffins from Our Good Life
• Spooky Spider Decadent Cupcakes from For the Love of Food
• Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites from It’s Shanaka
• Halloween Brains Cupcakes from An Affair from the Heart
• Breadstick Snakes from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Jack O’Lantern Tostadas from Palatable Pastime
• Witches Broom Cookies from Best Cookie Recipes
• Baked Intestine Pie from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Caramel Apple Bark from Best Dessert Recipes
• Mummy Dogs from Savory Experiments
• Halloween Taco Dip from Jen Around the World
• Easy Spider Cupcakes from Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box
• Creamy Pumpkin Hummus from Jolene’s Recipe Journal