Strawberry Cheesecake Baklava

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13x2-inch baking pan.

2. Drain strawberries and reserve juice in a bowl. Chop into pieces and add any remaining juice to the bowl.

3. Combine cottage cheese, cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks, whole egg, vanilla extract, and lemon zest in a bowl. Blend together using an electric mixer on medium speed. Stir in the drained strawberries.

4. Place phyllo dough sheets between dampened towels to keep moist.

5. Place 1 phyllo sheet on the prepared pan. Brush with melted butter. Repeat until 1/2 of the sheets are left.

6. Spoon the strawberry-cheese mixture over the top layer of phyllo; spread evenly. Layer the remaining phyllo sheets on top, brushing each with butter.

7. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 1 hour.

8. Combine 1/2 cup reserved strawberry juice, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook into a thick syrup, about 5 minutes.

9. Spoon hot syrup evenly over the baked baklava. Let cool before cutting into pieces.

Cook's Notes:

To thaw strawberries for this recipe: Empty the package into a bowl and sprinkle with some sugar. Stir it up so they're all coated with the sugar. Let thaw at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours. The sugar will help create a juice when the berries thaw.

The frozen phyllo dough will take 2 hours to thaw as well, so make sure to account for this extra time.

You can substitute ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese.