A delicious pastry coated in a sweet honey syrup, dusted with cinnamon and garnished with nuts. It’s no wonder why Greek diples are one of the most popular pastries to be enjoyed on special occasions.
Believe it or not, you can make Greek diples in the comfort of your own kitchen, and will have all your friends wondering which dessert shop you purchased these sweet Greek pastries with honey from. This recipe makes it easy to recreate a classic sweet by using a modern rolling technique. On this page you will find what I consider to be one of the easiest guides on how to make diples. And if you love this dessert, be sure to check out my portokalopita recipe (Greek orange cake with syrup) and galaktoboureko recipe if you love Greek desserts!
The traditional way to fold Diples can be challenging, especially when it is your first time making them. This recipe will show you a way that is fault proof, just be sure to not roll them too tight and to not have the oil too hot when frying so the centre of the Diples is cooked all the way through
What Are Diples?
A thin pastry that is deep-fried, soaked in a honey syrup, and coated in a sprinkle of cinnamon and crushed walnuts. Pronounced thee-ples, diples/ thiples are a traditional Greek pasty from the Peloponnese. They get their name from the Greek word diploma which means fold. These are commonly made around Christmas time, for the celebration of a traditional Greek wedding and many other special occasions.
What Are Diples Made Of?
The classic Greek diples recipe consists of three main components. A thinly rolled dough, sweet honey syrup and a nutty cinnamon garnish. The heavy amount of syrup that goes onto the diples makes them sticky, sweetly delicious, moist, while still maintaining its beautiful crunchiness. Greeks call desserts which are heavy in syrup Siroplasta.
Ingredients For Dough
5 eggs (separate the yolks and whites)
¼ cup of sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 tablespoons olive oil
50ml brandy
50ml fresh orange juice
700g all purpose (plain flour)
Ingredients For Syrup
2 cups of water
3 cups of sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
Juice of ½ a lemon
Ingredients For Toppings
Drizzle of honey (if you like extra)
Crushed walnuts
Sprinkle of ground cinnamon
Additional
3-2 litres oil for frying (sunflower or vegetable)
Parchment/baking paper (optional) as you can use a fork to roll the Diples up. If using a baking paper, I recommend using an unbleached and chlorine free baking paper.
Instructions
1. Separate the eggs in two bowls. Separating the whites and the yolks.
2. Beat up the egg yolks until they fluff up slightly.
3. Add the ¼ cup of sugar to the egg whites and beat until fluffy.
4. Return the beaten-up yolks to the fluffy egg whites and then add the vanilla, oil, brandy, and orange juice.
5. Mix together until it’s well combined.
6. Add in the flour and mix. When the dough hardens, place it on the bench and knead it for a good 10 minutes. If your dough is sticky, add more flour. You want a quite hard consistency.
7. Put the dough aside, covered, and let it rest for a good 30 minutes.
8. Divide the dough into 4 balls (they should be roughly 290g – 300g each). Whilst you roll one ball out, keep the others covered so they don’t dry out.
9. You want to roll the dough as thin as possible. If you have a pastry maker, I suggest using this to get the best result.
10. Once your dough is paper thin, cut into medium length and width strips. Cut your parchment paper to the same size and loosely roll the Diple up into a scroll.
11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 until all Diples are rolled up and ready to go.
12. Heat up your oil in a large pan. You want to ensure your oil is not too hot when cooking using this method, as we want to ensure we cook the Diples all the way through to the centre and not burn them.
(if following the traditional way of rolling whilst in the oil, using a hot oil is preferred).
13. Be sure to cook one at a time and keep it submerged under the oil, so it is cooked evenly.
14. Once all the Diples are cooked, set aside to cool.
15. Prepare your syrup by adding the water, sugar, lemon, and cinnamon to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is boiling, turn off the heat and stir in the honey.
16. You will want to work quickly with this step as we want to soak the cooled Diples in the hot syrup. This can be done the other way around (hot Diples in the cooled syrup) just make sure that one is the opposite to the other to ensure they stay crispy.
17. Once all Diples are coated in the syrup, dust them with a nice amount of ground cinnamon, a generous sprinkle of crushed walnuts and a little bit of extra honey.
18. Now enjoy!!!
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Christina Holland
Hi I just want to thank you for your recipes you make so easy and funny 😁
Nikolopaa
No worries Christina! Glad you enjoy 🙂
Jake Q
Made these! Absolutely fantastic. Truely a legend of a Greek Chef.
Anita
Love your recipes Niko! Keep them up 🙂🙏🏽
Eleni
Delicious!!!!