Celebrate National Dessert Day with this Bougatsa Recipe

October 14 is National Dessert Day, a day when you can indulge in your favourite Greek desserts without regret or remorse.

In celebration we share our Bougatsa recipe to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Bougatsa is a traditional Greek dessert, which can be eaten any time of the day!

It consists of layers and layers of delicious and crispy filo pastry, which is filled with a creamy custard and then dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar.

Here is an easy recipe to follow from my yiayia’s hands (walking cookbook).

It’s simply DIVINE and I know you want to eat it!

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*Tip: Use a clean cloth to cover the phyllo you are not yet working with.

Ingredients

1 packet of filo pastry 1 litre of milk 1 cup of caster sugar 1 cup of fine semolina 4 eggs, beaten 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence orange rind, grated oil for brushing 1 tablespoon of cinnamon icing sugar and cinnamon, for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C. Heat milk in a pot over medium heat. Add the semolina and stir consistently. Allow the cream to thicken. In a bowl, mix the beaten eggs, sugar, vanilla essence and cinnamon. Add the mixture from the bowl into the pot. Keep stirring over the heat until the mixture thickens into a custard and no lumps form. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Open up your pack of phyllo and unwrap the sheets. Lay 3 sheets of pastry one on top of the other, brushing oil between each sheet. Cut pastry into 4 squares. Place 1/3 cup of custard mixture in the bottom center of your square. Fold sides over and then roll up. Brush the top with oil. Place each roll on a greased tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. When ready, remove tray from oven. Allow the bougatses to cool on a rack. Dust with sifted icing sugar and cinnamon. Enjoy!