Croatian Kremówka

Ingredients

• 1l milk

• 120g cornstarch

• 100g flour

• 250g sugar

• 3 tbsp good vanilla extract

• 6 egg yolks

• 6 egg whites

• 200ml whipping cream, sweetened with50g powder sugar

• 2 puff pastry sheets

• Powdered sugar to dust the top

Directions

1. Roll out, poke all over with a toothpick and bake the puff pastry sheets first. Make sure to roll them out a bit bigger than the deep tray you will use because it will puff up and shrink a bit. Once they've baked and cooled, place one at the bottom of the tray and cut the other one (the prettier looking one) into 8 or 10 or 12 squares, depending on how big you want your kremsnita to be. I use an 20x30 cm dish for this (8x12 inch) with tall/deep sides.

2. Mix your egg whites until stiff peaks.

3. Pour 0.8L of the milk into a bigger pot, and in a bowl mix the remaining 0.2 L with the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, flour and cornstarch then strain it to remove any lumps. Once the milk in the pot gets warm, pour the mixture in and continue to whisk over medium high heat until it thickens up. Be patient with it and don't stop whisking so it doesn't burn.

4. Once it's thickened up, fold in the egg whites until they're incorporated (they won't be fully mixed in, egg white specks will still be visible and you want that!!!).

5. Pour it over the bottom layer of puff pastry.

6. You've got two options now - immediately place the puff pastry rectangles on top, let it cool down to room temp and then transfer to the fridge overnight OR let it cool down to room temp, add whipped cream on top followed by puff pastry, and then transfer to the fridge overnight. Sometimes I do the whipped cream, sometimes I don't, the world is your pickle my friend so do what you want!