Be sure to watch the video in the recipe card to learn how to make borek with step by step instructions.

Living on a small island in the Caribbean, it does not feel like “it’s the holidays”, mostly because we do not have big malls or fancy restaurants that are decorated with Christmas trees with colorful lights and ornaments.

The warm weather does not help either.

I am aware that the weather up north is terrible and people are waiting at the airport for hours to visit their families for Thanksgiving. Who am I to complain???!??

I knoooowww… But, still, I cannot help but want to go to a mall, get a cup of latte from Starbucks and walk around the mall and shop for Christmas.

I should stop complaining. Because I did not even grow up celebrating Christmas. Growing up in Turkey, we celebrated bayrams (holidays). They were just as big as Christmas, where you get together with family and friends and eat a lot of food.

One dish that is very popular for those holidays is called Börek (pronounced as B-eu-reck). Börek is very popular in almost all Middle Eastern and Balkan countries. I remember my mother spending hours to make it when we have special guests coming over during the bayrams (or any other special occasion).

Börek is made by layering several sheets of phyllo dough with a mixture of milk (or yogurt), eggs, and oil in between, and is flavored by placing a filling of your choice (like this spinach and feta cheese) in the middle of those layers.

Phyllo dough (or what we call – yufka) is made up of flour, water, and oil. Homemade phyllo dough takes time, patience and skill, requiring progressive rolling and stretching to a single thin and very large sheet with continual flouring between layers to prevent tearing.

When I say it requires skill, I mean REAL skill… No joke!

Thankfully, nowadays you can easily find it in your supermarket either in fresh or frozen form. I personally like the frozen phyllo dough simply because it has a longer shelf life.

For this Börek, I used spinach and feta cheese filling but you can use whatever you want. Leftovers are perfect for Böreks. You can use meat, sausage, cheese, potatoes, other vegetables, etc.

The end result is simply delicious. It is flaky, light and filling. It is perfect for lunch with a simple green salad. The spinach and feta version is a great option for your guests who are vegetarian.

In Turkey, most people serve it with a glass of Turkish tea for breakfast. Dwight, my American husband, who visited Turkey twice, thinks that Börek is his favorite thing in the world.

So we continue the tradition and enjoy it with a glass of tea in the morning, every once in a while, when we want to have a “special” breakfast.♥

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