If you’re having vegetarians over to your house and you need an appetizer, this is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

These bite-sized savoury pastries will save in the freezer for up to a month, and they take under 15 minutes to bake once they’re prepared. The only real difficulty is folding the phyllo sheets into triangles—this can be time consuming, so give yourself a chunk of time if you plan on making these. I tried my best in explaining the steps, and added photos as well, but if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask!

I made these for the first time a couple of years ago, and I got so frustrated when the triangles didn’t turn out perfectly. Here’s a small piece of advice. Nobody will really care if your spanakopita are in perfect triangles, as long as they taste good. Plus, practice makes perfect, so after your third or fourth one you should start to get the hang of it.

If you have leftover phyllo dough, you should keep it covered by a damp cloth in the fridge and use it the next day, or put it in a ziplock bag and freeze it. This can be risky though, because sometimes when you thaw, freeze, and re-thaw, the dough can be a little sticky; that’s why I recommend using it pretty soon afterwards. Wrap almost anything in phyllo dough, brush it with butter, and bake it—it’ll taste good.

Ingredients

Makes roughly 40 pieces

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 300g package frozen spinach, thawed and well-drained
• 1 cup feta cheese, roughly crumbled
• 1 egg
• 1 454g package of phyllo dough, thawed
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (for brushing)

Method

Put garlic in a food processor, and blend on high speed until completely minced. Add in spinach, feta and egg, and process until well mixed. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon if there are still any larger chunks, and process again until done.

Take the roll of phyllo dough and cut into 4 equal sections (see photo). Take one section to work with and unroll it; place the others under a damp cloth to keep them from drying out. This is very important because the phyllo with crack and be difficult to roll otherwise.

Take one sheet of phyllo, and lay it out on a clean, dry surface. Brush a small amount of melted butter onto the sheet with a pastry brush, then fold the sheet in half vertically (so that it will be thinner and longer).

This is the trickiest part. Place roughly one teaspoon of filling at the end closest to you on the phyllo sheet. Grab the bottom left corner of the sheet, and fold it upwards to the right until it’s touching the other side. Then take the bottom corner on the right side, and fold it over the the left. You are essentially making triangles, or folding it “like a flag” for the final product. There are photos directly below to help with any confusion. Don’t worry about making them perfect on your first try, this will only stress you out. Once all the filling is used up, brush the top of each piece with a small amount of butter.

If you are making them to eat right away: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place spanakopita pieces on two ungreased baking sheets, and bake for 7-9 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

If you are making them to eat later: Place all pieces in an airtight container or ziplock bag, and freeze for up to a month. When preparing to eat, bake from frozen and cook for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees F.