Debbie, I don't have a recipe but I think that this dessert sounds wonderful. Can't wait to hear what you thought of this recipe.

Ann

Debbie,
How are things in Utica?? Has spring sprung yet??
Here is a recipe for you-I've not tried it but I have used other recipes from the Krinos site that have been just excellent.
Custard-filled Pastry
This luscious, cream-filled fillo dessert is great served warm.

Ingredients

Filling;
3 sticks unsalted butter
4 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup fine semolina flour
6 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1-pound box Athens/Apollo fillo pastry, defrosted and at room temperature

2 cups syrup

1. Melt one stick of butter in a large saucepan. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the semolina, and cook 6-7 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent lumping. Remove from heat.

2. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, orange rind, and vanilla. Slowly add one cup of the hot semolina-milk mixture to the eggs and stir well and quickly. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan, stirring until smooth and thick. Let stand, covered, for at least 1 hour to cool.

3. Melt remaining 2 sticks butter. Preheat the oven to 3500F, and lightly grease a 9"x 13"x 2 1/2" baking pan with a little melted butter.

4. Unroll the fillo. Brush 8 sheets with melted butter and stack on the bottom of the pan. Pour the custard filling evenly over them. Top with 8 more sheets of fillo, brushing each with butter. Score the galaktoboureko vertically into 4 rows with a sharp knife. Sprinkle with a little water and bake for 1 hour, or until the fillo is golden and the filling set. Remove and cool.

5. Have the syrup ready and cool. Spoon the cool syrup over the hot pastry slowly, allowing it to seep in. Let stand for 30 minutes. Cut into diagonals to form diamonds, and serve warm.
Yield: 20-40 pieces, depending on size

Deb, let us know how it turns out. Just saw the oven temp in the one I posted from the Krinos site-think 350 will do a bit better than 3500F!! LOL.
Sounds good though.

The restaurant we go to doesn't put citrus flavor in the custard, so I'll be giving recipe #1 a try for Mother's Day using vanilla in the custard. My mom and grandmother like anything sweet, so this will be a nice treat for them. I'll let you know how I like the results.

This is a family recipe. It was my aunt's favorite dessert. I typed it up a couple of years ago to include in a family cookbook.

Galatobouriko
(Greek Custard Pastry)

This classic Greek sweet features a creamy custard filling, with a touch of orange flavoring, sandwiched between buttery fillo layers, and drenched in a light cinnamon and honey syrup. Dessert doesnt get any better than this!

For 10" x 15" baking pan:

Custard Filling:
8 cups milk
1¼ cups farina or Cream of Wheat
8 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup melted sweet, unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Freshly grated peel of one orange

Pastry:
1 pound fillo dough
1½ cups sweet, unsalted butter, melted

Syrup:
1½ cups sugar
½ cup honey
2 cups water
2 sticks cinnamon
Orange peel slice (optional)

Custard Preparation:
In large saucepan, heat milk; remove pan from heat. Gradually add Cream of Wheat, stirring constantly.Return saucepan to medium heat.Add sugar and butter; blend thoroughly. Continue to stir; do not allow mixture to burn.
Cook about 10 - 15 minute until mixture thickens. Remove pan from heat and cool a bit.

In separate bowl, beat eggs well. Slowly add the Cream of Wheat mixture to the beaten eggs, little by little (ladle by ladle). Pour and mix the egg mixture gently into the hot Cream of Wheat mixture and stir. Add vanilla and grated orange peel; blend well.Set custard aside.To keep "skin" from forming while cooling, stir custard occasionally or place a piece of plastic wrap directly on custard.

Syrup Preparation:
In saucepan combine sugar and honey, water, cinnamon sticks, and orange peel (if using). Bring mixture to boil. Continue to boil until syrup is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside. Discard cinnamon stick and orange peel.

Galatobouriko Assembly:
Butter bottom and sides of pan well. Layer ½ fillo sheets for bottom. Do not cut bottom fillo sheets to pan size; keep sides up. Brush butter between each layer of fillo; brush sides. Pour in cooled custard filling. Leave room for folding over fillo to enclose filling. * Spread filling evenly. Fold fillo sides over to completely enclose filling.
Cut remaining ½ fillo sheets to pan size. Continue layering fillo sheets, brushing butter between each layer. Trim excess fillo dough from sides and corners of pan. Cut through top 3-4 fillo layers only; do not cut all the way through.

Bake at 350° for 50 60 minutes. Custard should be completely set and top layer of fillo should be light, golden brown.Let cool for 15 minutes. Pour syrup over warm Galatobouriko. Let Galatobouriko cool and absorb all of syrup before cutting all the way through, at least four hours or over night.

Serve at room temperature or cold. Refrigerate leftovers.

Note: For an easy, simple, and quick variation, make the galatobouriko without the fillo. Prepare custard as above without incorporating the butter. Instead, pour the melted butter onto bottom of 13" x 9" baking pan. Spoon custard on top of the butter. Bake at 350° for 45 60 minutes until custard is completely set and knife inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes. Cut into pieces and pour syrup over warm galatobouriko. Let galatobouriko cool and absorb all of syrup before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

*Leftover filling may be baked as indicated in note above. Use some leftover melted butter in a small casserole and then pour some syrup over the baked and cut filling.

shambo, I like your Aunt's note about making the galaktoboureko without the phyllo dough for a simple dessert. I will be giving this a try over the weekend for a dessert to serve on Mother's Day.

This is a link to a story in today's Baltimore Sun, and I have been thinking about these pastries for a looong time.

First let me post the recipe..

Galaktoboureko

Serves 16

This recipe for galaktoboureko squares comes from Nora Kefalas, who says any leftovers should be refrigerated uncovered to maintain crispness. Syrup may be made ahead and stored in a refrigerator for up to three weeks. Galaktoboureko also can be made into baked rolls of custard-filled phyllo dough.

Custard:

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 cups milk

2 tablespoons unsalted sweet butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

rind of 1/2 lemon

1 cup semolina or farina

Syrup:

1 tablespoon squeezed lemon juice

1 cup water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 whole cinnamon stick

Dough:

1 pound phyllo dough

1 1/2 cups melted butter-flavored Crisco for brushing phyllo

cinnamon to sprinkle on top

honey (optional)

For the custard: In a small bowl, beat the eggs with vanilla extract and set aside. Then, in a pot, add milk, butter and sugar, using a wire whisk. Stir and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and add lemon extract and lemon rind. While continuing to stir with whisk, slowly add farina. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens (about 3 to 5 minutes). Remove from stove and mix in the beaten eggs. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

To make syrup: Place all ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil and let cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick.

Spread half the phyllo sheets on the bottom of an 11-inch-by-15-inch pan, leaving some hanging over the edges. Coat each sheet with melted Crisco. Then pour the custard in the pan, fold over the sheets and continue to coat with Crisco and layer the remaining sheets. Make several slits on top layer -- not cutting to the bottom.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes and then, with a ladle, pour syrup on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon. (If your custard is warm, your syrup must be cold.) Cut into squares and serve warm or cold. If desired, you may also drizzle honey on top.

Per serving (square version): 515 calories, 8 grams protein, 25 grams fat, 6 grams saturated fat, 65 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram fiber, 64 milligrams cholesterol, 200 milligrams sodium

Then here are the notes as to how the women prepare the bits and pieces in advance. A good idea if you ever want to get a bunch of people doing this together. It usually takes about 10 women to prepare the hundreds of cigar\-shaped galaktoboureko rolls for the festival. Weeks before the event, Kefalas and others meet at the church in the morning and make the custard, which takes more than two hours. "The church is what brought everybody together," Kefalas said. "We're all like a family down there. It's like home." On the stove, the mixture of milk, butter and sugar needs plenty of stirring to keep it from burning. Demonstrating in her kitchen, Kefalas makes it seem effortless. Then come the lemon extract, rind and farina, followed by the beaten eggs and vanilla, added slowly. The lemon helps cut back the smell of the eggs she'll mix in later (she always thought her mother and grandmother made it too eggy). This is the easy part. When the large batch of custard is finished, a second group of women arrives to roll up the filling in phyllo dough. They butter the thin, flaky dough sheets with a brush, spread them out, pour a line of custard in the middle, roll it all into neat little cylinders and freeze them. The syrup, made of lemon juice, water, sugar and cinnamon, is readied closer to festival weekend because it doesn't keep as long, she said. In the morning of each festival day, the women will bake the rolls, drizzle on the syrup and sprinkle some cinnamon on top. Each roll costs $1.50 and comes in a small wrapper.