Crispy pastry and custard. Yes, please….!
Kremšnite is also known as krempite – which is a mix of crispy pastry and a wobbly type of custard. I have been known to eat way too big a serving of this sweet treat. Regularly. And by that, I mean my behind is wobbly for a reason. But let’s move on.
This type of custard dessert is popular in Croatian cooking and in many other European countries. Within Croatia, the regional recipe variations are many. However, two things stay the same. They all include a puff pastry base with custard inside.
Some have a layer of cream added to the top; others have two layers of pastry, and so on. No matter how you pronounce it or in what variation it comes, they’re all rather complicated to say no to. Trust me on this…
One of my food goals (yes, fat people have goals about food) was to learn how to make this as soon as I arrived here in Croatia. I can’t say that I make Croatian food without knowing how to make this custard slice of heaven.
I had no idea that making Kremšnite could be so simple, and now that I know, I wanted to share it with you.
Croatian Kremšnite Recipe (Custard Slice)
Here is how to make Croatian Kremšnite. This recipe has a crispy pastry and soft custard.
Ingredients
- 500 gram puff pastry sheets (we buy them, but you can make them fresh if you have time)
- 485 ml fresh milk
- 50 gram all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
- 100 gram white sugar
- 30 gram vanilla sugar
- 10 ml rum
- 395 ml whipping cream
- Icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
- Place the puff pastry on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and prick with a fork a few times and bake for 10 minutes - see the notes for more detail about the size
- Use a blender to mix eggs, yolks, flour, 250 ml of milk, 70 gr sugar, and 15 gr of vanilla sugar, and set aside
- Into a saucepan, pour 235 ml milk, 15 gr vanilla sugar, and rum and heat until boiling. Add the above mixture, stir and then cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, constantly stirringly until the mixture is thick as a pudding - make sure it doesn't burn
- Place the first slice of puff pastry in a serving dish (we used one 25x25cm) and pour in the hot mixture. Refrigerate for 15 minutes
- Add 30 grams of sugar to the cream and whip till light and fluffy
- Remove the dish from the fridge and arrange a thin layer of whipped cream on top of the cream
- Place the second baked puff pastry on top and sprinkle with icing sugar to taste
- Cut the kremsnite into your desired-sized slices. We made them big and sliced them into six pieces - of course; you can make them much smaller
Notes
- When baking the pastry, we find it easier to precut the puff pastry to the size of the final serving dish. In the photos, we used a dish that was 25x25 cm. So we baked two pieces 24x24cm.
- Meat and Cheese Burek
- Stuffed Peppers {Punjene Paprike}
- Klipići {rolls}
- Under the bell {Ispod čripnje}
- Pasticada Recipe
- Octopus Salad
- Prezgana Soup (Brown Roux Soup)
- Lazy Apple Pie {Lijena Pita s Jabukama}
- Stuffed Vine Leaves (Japrak)
- Zagorje Cheese Strukli
- Juha Od Rajčice s Taranom (Tomato Soup With Grated Dough)
- Slavonian Freshwater Fish Stew
- Gulaš (Traditional Goulash)
So relieved to find out it’s relatively simple.
Did you make it? I’d love to know how you went.
Not yet. I had visions of cooking during the school holidays but apparently that’s lost its appeal with the kids lately?
Yeah I am over cooking too – must be the heart?
Not sure. No hotter than usual here. I think it’s just one of those things where they go through phases and then they want to give it a rest and try something different instead. Except by that time I’ve usually gone and stocked up on whatever the last phase involved :)
Thanks for this, we used to eat this all of the time when we lived in the states, I am going to give this a while this weekend.
You are so welcome, let us know how you get on. We’d love to see pics.
This recipe looks delicious, I can’t wait to make it! However, when I was reading the recipe it said 1 spoon of sugar and 1 vanilla sugar. I am confused on what that means exactly…
It means 1 spoon of regular sugar and 1 spoon of vanilla sugar. Hope that’s clearer.
I think I will love this but…to elaborate further on a previous questioner… “1 spoonful” has many interpretations: 1 teaspoon, 1 dessertspoon or one tablespoon?… which one? or perhaps the weight in grams would help clarify the question.
Do I assume you use only the egg yolk…or the whole egg?
Hi, I am french and I am just coming back from Zadar where I discovered this famous Krempita pastry. I really want to know how make it. What do you mean exactly by sweet cream please ? Thank you
Hello. I am not sure how else to explain… cream, that is sweet. Ie not sour cream.
It’s called whipping cream in Canada. Fat content is about 33-36%.
What is the baking temperature in Fahrenheit?
https://www.metric-conversions.org/temperature/celsius-to-fahrenheit.htm