Armenian gata (filled sweet pastry)

This traditional Armenian sweet is quick to make if you have puff pastry on hand. The most common form is a round, but here it's formed into a butterfly.

Armenian gata (baked sweet pastry). Credit: Freshly Picked with Simon Toohey

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 120 g plain flour
• 40 g toasted and finely ground walnuts
• 50 g margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• ½ cup caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 sheet vegan puff pastry
• Melted margarine, to brush
• Sugar syrup, to serve, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C, fan forced). Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
2. Add the flour to a dry pan and toast on low heat for 5 minutes, until lightly toasted.
3. Mix flour, walnuts, margarine, canilla, sugar and salt together until a crumb-like texture.
4. Cut pastry sheet lengthwise. Spread half the filling over the surface of one pastry sheet half. Roll into a log (not too thick).
5. To shape the butterfly (see Note), fold in half lengthways so one half sits on top of the other in a long sideways U shape (it will look like two logs on top of each other). Using a sharp knife (you may need to flour the knife to stop it sticking), make a cut from one end towards the middle (but not all the way through). Make a cut from the other end from the edge towards the centre (again not all the way through – i.e. the two cuts do not join up.).
6. Place the gata on the baking tray. Fold the cuts outwards to make a butterfly shape.
7. Coat it with melted margarine and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
8. When out of the oven, the gata can be brushed very lightly with sugar syrup. Cut in half to serve, if desired.

Note

See Anushka Zargaryan make the pastry in season 2 of Freshly Picked here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.