Ruffled Milk Pie or Patsavouropita is a deliciously sweet custard and filo pie! If you are a fan of the Greek dessert bougatsa, you will absolutely love this pie! It is incredibly easy to make and who doesn’t love the thought of filo and sweet custard combined into a gorgeous pie?
One of my favourite Greek desserts is this patsavouropita I am sharing with you today. It has the most delicious filo ruffles (formed in the shape of roses in my version) and is filled with a delicious custard flavoured with orange zest.
It looks beautiful to serve up and tastes so delicious it is sure to please your guests!
This dessert is also pretty easy to make!
A Bit of Background of Patsavouropita
The name of this pie in Greek really does not do it justice. Patsavoura is the Greek word for rag. This pie has likely been given its name due to the crumpled, haphazard way the filo is ruffled. It in no way does the delicious taste justice!
There are many variations of Patsavouropita ranging from savoury to sweet pies. It can be made with cheese for a savoury dinner option. As a sweet version, it can be made as I have here with a custard filling. My mother-in-law makes this pie with a delicious syrup in place of the custard. It is so good too!
As a lover of creamy textures, this version with a custard filling is my favourite. So decadent and reminiscent of a bougatsa which is also one of my favourite desserts!
What is common to all of these versions is the the ruffled filo sheets which give this pie a distinct look. Traditionally, these filo sheets are accordioned and placed into a baking dish in this fashion. This time, I decided to take my accordion filo sheets and spiral them to give them a rose look. I like pretty things and it is probably the prettiest version of a “rag” pie that I have ever seen!
I love this pie! LOVE IT! That is saying something because I do not have much of a sweet tooth, for one. When I do greedily dig into a dessert it usually involves chocolate and lots of it. In this case though, this dessert does not really fit into my usual preferences and yet I am absolutely crazy about it!
Making Patsavouropita
Making this pie is actually quite easy! Aside from filo, you likely have everything on hand already. In this house filo is always on hand too but that’s not all too shocking when you’re Greek!
Prep the filo:
To start, I brushed filo sheets one at a time with melted butter. Then I ruffled them into an accordion shape with my hands. Don’t worry too much if some of your filo sheets are a bit ripped. It is a rag pie after all, so its okay if it is not perfect!
I then spiraled these ruffled sheets to form them into the shape of a rose and placed them into my baking dish. If the tops of your roses do not look like they have much butter on them, brush a bit on top. I tend to forget to butter my edges and need to do this every time.
I repeat this with all the filo or until my baking pan was full. Don’t squeeze them in tightly if they don’t fit as you want some space between the filo. You will be pouring custard into all those nooks and crannys later so you don’t want them squashed together. Once my filo roses are all set in the dish, I pop it in the oven and bake them for 20 minutes at 375F.
Prepare the custard:
Meanwhile, I get to making the custard filling. I pour milk, sugar, a cinnamon stick, orange zest and salt in a saucepan and heat it over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Then I remove it from the heat and let it cool a bit. In a bowl, I whisk the eggs and then add it to the milk mixture, whisking vigorously to prevent the eggs from cooking. The custard will be quite loose at this point and that is okay. It will cook and thicken in the oven rather than over the stove.
At this point the filo has browned nicely in the oven. I remove it and pour the custard over the filo. Then I pop it back into the oven to cook for another 20 minutes. Thats it!
Ruffled Milk Pie or Patsavouropita can be served warm or cool so feel free to serve it any way you like! I like to dust it with some icing or confectioners sugar and ground cinnamon.
Bon appetit!
You may also like these other Greek baked goodies:
Recipe for Kourabiedes (Greek Butter Cookies)
Tsoureki – Greek Easter Bread
Koulourakia – Greek Easter Cookies
Ruffled Milk Pie (Greek Patsavouropita)
Ingredients
- 1 package filo pastry thawed
- 3/4 cup butter melted
- 3 cups milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- zest of 1 orange
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs whisked
- ground cinnamon and confectioners sugar for dusting before serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Brush a quiche or cake pan with some melted butter.
- Using one filo sheet at a time, brush it all over with the melted butter. Using your hands, crease it like an accordion so it looks ruffled. Starting at one end of the ruffled filo, begin to curl it into a spiral so that it forms the shape of a rose. If you don not wish to form the sheets into roses, you can also just place them as they are in an accordion shape into your baking pan.
- Repeat step 2 with the other filo sheets or until there is no more room in the pan. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the filo begins to brown nicely on top.
- Meanwhile, in a saucepan, add the milk, sugar, cinnamon stick, orange zest, and salt. Heat over medium heat whisking consistently. Heat the milk mixture until the sugar dissolves being careful not to bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add them to the milk mixture, whisking vigorously to ensure they do not cook.
- Once filo has browned nicely on the oven, remove it and ladle the milk mixture over it. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
- Let cool. Dust with cinnamon and icing sugar before serving if desired. The pie can be served warm or cold. Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
