Baked Apple, Brie and Date Filo Parcels

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Get creative with these festive filo parcels filled with baked apple, Brie and dates. These light and flaky bundles are best served fresh from the oven.

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To all cheese lovers out there, I’ve got for you something you won’t resist. It involves some melting cheese, a touch of sweetness with baked apples and dates, and just a little bit of thyme. All of this wrapped up in individual filo parcels. They’re beautiful, delicate, slightly crispy, and make a wonderful starter for a fancy 3-course dinner. Make them in a smaller size and they become a perfect appetizer bite to impress your guests.

Filo dough or phyllo dough can be a little bit intimidated at first, especially if you never used it in your baking creations before. Follow along, I’m guiding you through the steps to help you make these lovely filo parcels with confidence. Just to give you an idea, it doesn’t take me longer than a minute to assemble them (and I’m not a baklava expert). You can do it too!

Ingredients you need

Filo (or phyllo) dough – See below.
Brie cheese – You could replace with any other cheese that melts easily when baked and that also pairs well with apples. A few other examples: camembert, goat cheese, blue cheese…
Apples – Basically any type would do, but you’d better choose a variety that is good for baking.
Dates – I use dry dates, pitted. A few other options would be to use dried figs or PRUNEAUX. Alternatively, you can simply sweeten with just a little bit of honey, agave or maple syrup.
Fresh thyme – I love the addition of fresh herbs that finishes up the dish beautifully. If you don’t have fresh thyme, you can do with dry thyme, but I really recommend the fresh one over the dry one.

How to shape filo parcels?

Filo dough is extremely thin, delicate/fragile, and dries out very quickly. For this reason, always remove it from the fridge (or freezer if you use it frozen) just before starting the recipe.

Brush the filo sheet lightly with some melted butter (or alternatively olive oil). Don’t go heavy when brushing or it will go through the sheet.
Add your filling in the center of the sheet, i.e. a few pieces of Brie cheese, baked apples, dates and fresh thyme.
Wrap filo dough into a little parcel or pouch. It should hold its shape by itself, but if not you can tie the parcel with a little ribbon.
Lightly brush with butter (or olive oil), then bake immediately until golden. Baking time can vary from one oven to another so I recommend you keep a close eye on it because it will be ready within minutes.

And voilà, serve immediately with a side of salad (I like it with mâche salad), and enjoy!

What if I don’t have filo dough at home?

Maybe you don’t have filo dough or maybe you don’t really want to use some, either because you don’t like it or you still don’t feel comfortable using it (I don’t blame you, the most important is to feel confident when cooking, always). Luckily, there are a few alternative options to wrap up these sweet and savory ingredients together. You can replace filo dough with:

Crepes – In this case you’ll want to wrap them up with a lovely ribbon. You won’t have the crispiness of the filo dough but instead a soft and delicious crepes. Note that in this version, you won’t need to brush the inside or outside or the crepe.
Puff pastry – Tie the parcel with a little ribbon. Unlike the crepe version, the result will be crispy and flaky, with multiple layers of laminated dough. Note that you don’t need to brush the inside of the puff pastry, but for the outside brush with beaten egg.

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