Skip the boring old pumpkin pie—this unique twist on a traditional Greek dessert is the show-stopping Thanksgiving dessert you’ve been looking for!
With crispy, ruffled layers of phyllo dough on top and a custardy, bread pudding-like interior infused with pumpkin and spices, this ruffled milk pie is a textural experience unlike anything you’ve ever had before.
The most unusual twist on pumpkin pie yet?
Perhaps.
This pumpkin-spiced ruffle milk pie gives me all the feels. I mean, talk about a stunning dessert with surprisingly little effort (I’ll take phyllo dough over pie crust any day).
Ruffled milk pie has Greek origins, known also as galatopita (literally ‘pie made with milk‘), made from layers of flaky phyllo dough and a sweet milk and egg custard. This version adds pumpkin and spices for a festive twist that will no doubt make an impression on your Thanksgiving table.
It’s really hard to compare galatopita to anything else in the American dessert repertoire. For those of us who’ve never had the original Greek version before, I would describe it as something like a phyllo bread pudding, with a crispy top and a soft and creamy, yet slightly chewy center.
The texture reminded me a lot of the dish called štruklji that we enjoyed in Croatia and Slovenia this past spring (in Slovenia it was a sweet version, steamed phyllo filled with an orange-scented chocolate sauce, while in Croatia it was savory, baked with fresh farmers cheese). But the texture of the steamed phyllo is very similar to what you end up with here when the phyllo bakes within the milk custard.
I infused the milk custard with pumpkin puree and pumpkin spices (enough to be brightly flavored, but not so much spice that the delicate flavor of the milk custard and buttery phyllo get overpowered). With a brush of honey butter and a dusting of powdered sugar on top, it’s the perfect amount of sweetness to balance out the more savory nature of the phyllo itself.
The top of the ruffled phyllo dough turns golden brown and gorgeously crispy in the oven, while the base softens within the silky sweet, lightly spiced pumpkin custard.
I will say this: some people might not like this pie, mainly because the texture of it is so unexpected and unusual. Soft baked phyllo dough is interesting, to say the least, and not what you expect when you see that beautiful crispy topping.
The two phyllo-based dishes most Americans are familiar with are baklava and spanakopita, and this pie isn’t anything like either of them.
So keep an open mind… and maybe make a second dessert to serve alongside this one (might I suggest this Pecan Fudge Pie? It’s a sure crowd-pleaser.)
My first attempt was a bit more tightly wound in the center and looser around the edges, meaning most of the custard ended up on the outside and very little in the center. My first bite was pretty gross, actually, mostly soggy, unsweetened phyllo, but I noticed the taste improved as I got out towards the edge where there was more sweet spiced custard.
For attempt #2 I made sure to evenly distribute the custard, pouring it over top of the par-baked phyllo, making sure it flowed into all the little nooks and crannies, especially towards the center. I also forced a few more sheets of phyllo around the edges, since the phyllo does have a tendency to collapse inwards as it bakes. Finally, I balanced the sweetness of the non-custard areas by mixing in a little honey with my final brushing of melted butter (this addition is anything but traditional but I felt it really helped with the overall balance and sweetness).
As for the folding/ruffling technique: you want to fold your phyllo dough like an accordion, with folds tall enough to match the deepness of your pan. For me, with a 9-by-2-inch pan and 9-by-14-inch sheets of phyllo, that meant about 2 1/4-inch folds.
Basically, I brushed one side of the dough with butter, then pinched it about a quarter of the way up the sheet, essentially making two folds at once. Then I pinched it where the first fold ended, and lifted, thus folding the last quarter of the dough down, forming something like an “M” shape.
If your phyllo sheets are larger you’ll be able to get more folds from a single sheet, meaning you’ll need fewer sheets to fill up the whole pan.
Once I had my dough folded to an M, I then flipped it (forming a W) so that the raw edges were facing up (this enhances the beautiful ruffly appearance).
For the first piece, roll it up gently into a spiral and place it in the middle of the pan. From there, I placed each subsequent folded piece so it continued the spiral all the way to the edges of the pan. The dough will collapse inward a bit as it bakes, so if you can pack one or two more pieces around the very edge to keep it looking full.
I went with a single spiral design, but I’ve seen versions of this pie with multiple small rosettes instead of one big one. Either way would work here (I could see the small rosette design being easier to serve as you wouldn’t need to cut through any phyllo dough, just serve one rosette per person).
Before baking, the raw phyllo dough gets another brush with butter (which I mixed with a bit of honey to even out the sweetness of the top) as well as a dusting of cinnamon. Bake until the phyllo is golden brown and crispy, then add the custard and bake it again until the custard is set.
I know many of you will see the words “phyllo dough” and go running for the hills. But let me say, this is not a hard recipe. Ruffling the phyllo takes no longer than making a pie crust, and it is certainly no place for perfection. In fact, the more imperfect the better. So when your phyllo rips and tears and your spirals don’t cooperate, just keep going—your pie is going to be absolutely stunning regardless.
Unfortunately (and I know I’ll get asked so I wanted to address this up front) this recipe is not really a make-ahead kind of dessert. It’s best enjoyed the day it is made, though you can certainly bake it up a few hours before you plan to serve it as it’s best served at room temperature anyway.
While it was still tasty the next day, you lose the crispy bits that make this pie so uniquely delicious. I’m not sure if you could re-crisp it in the oven should it go soggy on you (I didn’t try it personally but, in theory, it might work).
With crispy, ruffled layers of phyllo dough on top and a custardy, bread pudding-like interior infused with pumpkin and spices, this ruffled milk pie is a textural experience unlike anything you’ve ever had before.
*To clarify butter, melt in a saucepan set over medium-high heat until butter starts to foam and sputter. Stir occasionally and continue to simmer until the sputtering subsides and the white milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan. This is essentially the same process as making browned butter, but we’re just not going to cook it long enough to brown. Once the solids have separated, remove from heat and let cool slightly; the solids should settle to the bottom as it cools. Carefully pour or spoon off just the clear part of the butter, leaving the milk solids behind.
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