Paula Deen's Bite-Sized Baklava Recipe Has Fans Inspired

Paula Deen the Butter Queen may be known for her Southern cooking, but she's not all peach cobbler, buttered biscuits, and banana pudding all the time. In fact, upon occasion she even branches out into foods that originate somewhere other than below the Mason-Dixon line. According to a recent Instagram post by Deen, one of her favorite desserts is baklava. But, as she admits, "it sure is time-intensive to make that traditional version."

Luckily, there's a labor-saving workaround that lets you skip all the hassle of layering the filling in between those endless sheets of phyllo. Deen, who apparently drops her "g"s in print as well as when speaking, tells her followers "I'm sharin' an easy bite-size version that is perfect for your NYE get-together—my Honey Baklava Cups!" The recipe, which can be found on the Paula Deen website, involves a fairly standard baklava filling of chopped nuts flavored with cloves, cinnamon, and honey, but it uses mini phyllo cups to replace the sheets of pastry that are typically used in this dish.

The comments on Deen's Instagram post indicate that her followers heartily approve of this bite-sized baklava hack. As one person notes, "that's way easier," while another enthuses "I luv this n need to try ur recipe soon!!!" There were numerous hearts, smiley faces, and declarations of love, both for the recipe and for the cook. One mild note of criticism, though, came courtesy of an Instagram user who said "Would be nice if we had a close up view of it so we can really see it.. it's hard to see what they look like."

There was one person, though, who took inspiration not from Deen's recipe, but from her home décor. As they told the host of "Positively Paula," "Your home is beautiful. I look forward to seeing your next room. Can you please send me the link for the curtains you suggested in previous video. I want custom look curtains but not the price."