Custard Recipes (Easy Homemade & Greek-Inspired Desserts)
There’s something comforting about custard-based desserts. Whether it’s baked into crispy filo pastry, spooned warm into bowls or chilled straight from the fridge, custard has a way of feeling nostalgic without needing to be overly complicated.
A lot of the custard recipes I make are inspired by Greek desserts I grew up around; some from my yiayia’s handwritten recipes, others from my mum, and some I’ve experimented with over time and adjusted to my own liking.
Once you understand the base, custard is actually far easier to make than people think. Most recipes rely on simple ingredients like milk, eggs, sugar and cornflour, but the final result can be completely different depending on how you use them.
If you’re looking for homemade custard recipes, baked custard desserts or traditional Greek custard sweets, this collection is a good place to start.
Traditional Greek Custard Desserts
A Greek custard dessert made with layers of crispy filo pastry wrapped around semolina custard and soaked in syrup. One of the most loved Greek desserts for a reason.
Flaky filo pastry filled with creamy custard and finished with cinnamon and icing sugar. Simple, nostalgic and best eaten warm.
A proper old-school vanilla slice with thick vanilla custard sandwiched between crisp puff pastry and topped with glossy icing. This version focuses on getting that smooth bakery-style custard filling without it collapsing when sliced. I’m also a huge fan of that chewy dense glossy icing. It’s so nostalgic for me and hits every time!
Soft and fluffy custard-filled donuts inspired by Yiayia Anna’s pitoulitses dough recipe. The dough itself can be used for sweet or savoury recipes, but filled with custard, they’re hard to stop eating.
A classic Greek bakery dessert made with soft sponge layers filled with pastry cream and coated in chocolate. Kok (or kokakia) has been one of those desserts that took me ages to perfect because I couldn’t replicate that chewy chocolate top you find at bakeries. Long story short, I discovered that they use Vanilla Submarine float. See image below. If you’re Greek, the jar will instantly be recognisable.
FAQs: Custard Recipes
1.What is custard made of?
Most custard recipes use milk, eggs, sugar and a thickener like cornflour or semolina.
2.What’s the difference between custard and pudding?
Custard is usually egg-based, while pudding can be thickened in different ways depending on the recipe. For example, my rizogalo recipe isn’t egg-based and is thickened further with cornflour.
3.Why does custard go lumpy?
Usually from cooking it too quickly or not whisking properly while it thickens.
4.What Greek desserts use custard?
Popular Greek custard desserts include galaktoboureko and bougatsa.