This is a very common dish in Northern Croatia and growing up we had some variation of it on the table every week. My favorite being “Bucnica” which is the exact same recipe as this, with addition of grated pumpkin/squash to the cheese mixture. But, I had Cottage cheese leftovers home and didn’t feel like going out to look for pumpkin or a giant zucchini…
[1]Now, this can be really easy, or a little more complicated. You can buy the Phyllo dough or you can make your own. And I do sometimes make my own, but honestly, it is delicious and so fast with the bought one!!! So here is the easy way! 🙂 I bought these at my local Bosnian store, but I have seen them all over the place, including local grocery stores, just different brands.
[2]It is important to get them to room temperature so they don’t brake as much and once that they are opened, keep them covered with a damp towel.
Croatian Cheese Strudel
8 sheets of Phyllo dough
for the filling:
2 24oz tubs of cottage cheese
1 cup of sour cream
3 eggs
1 tsp of salt
half a stick of melted butter
little water
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[4]Preheat the oven to 400. Put a clean tablecloth on your working surface and put on top of it first two sheets of Phyllo dough. Lightly brush the melted butter over the sheet and then add 1/4 of your filling, distributing it evenly over the sheet all the way up, but stop about 1 inch from the top. Now you will roll this, using the tablecloth. Lifting the tablecloth, gently start folding the sheets until you have a ‘snake’. Once that is done, I usually spray some water on the ends so that I can fold them under the strudel when putting in the pan. You repeat this three more times and then gently put them in a greased pan.
[5]Now use whatever is leftover from the melted butter and brush over everything, specially all the creases.
[6]Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until its nicely golden color. When done take it out of the oven and let it cool of a little bit. Once it’s cooled enough, cut in pieces (about 5 inches in length) and its nomnom time! Enjoy.
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