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Qumështor

choo-muhsh-TOR

How to make Sweet Qumeshtor Recipe

Qumështor, the milky dish, is a sweet Albanian custard. Milk, eggs, cornstarch, sugar and a vanilla bean, cooked into a thick cream and broiled under an egg wash. One of the easiest Albanian desserts, ready in about 40 minutes.

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A spoonful of soft vanilla custard lifted from a tray of qumështor with a dark, broiled top

Hello guys and welcome to my next recipe. Let me show you how to make sweet qumështor. We are making qumështor, which is an Albanian traditional recipe.

This is one of the easiest Albanian desserts you can make, and it doesn’t require that many ingredients. I would like to call this my childhood recipe, because it was literally the one thing I would request everywhere I would go. And by everywhere, I don’t mean a restaurant, but my uncles’ and aunts’ houses.

Qumështor actually in English means the milky dish, and today we are going to do the sweet version, because there’s also a savory version as well. This recipe is actually going to be a little bit different. We’re going to move away from that traditional aspect and modify some of the ingredients, because I think that this way, we enhance the flavors more.

With that said, these are all the ingredients that we need to make qumështor: milk, eggs, cornstarch, sugar and a vanilla bean. If you would like to watch it in a video format, here is my video.

How it should look

And that’s how qumështor should look once it’s fully done.

A tray of qumështor from the broiler, its top browned and charred in patches

More desserts

For another Albanian dessert, try my baklava from scratch. If you like the broiled top, my crème brûlée gets its sugar crust from a torch, or from the broiler if you don’t have one.

Here is another recipe you would love!

Dessert Albanian

Qumështor

How to make Sweet Qumeshtor Recipe

Qumështor, the milky dish, is a sweet Albanian custard. Milk, eggs, cornstarch, sugar and a vanilla bean, cooked into a thick cream and broiled under an egg wash. One of the easiest Albanian desserts, ready in about 40 minutes.

Prep time
10 min
Cook time
30 min
Total time
40 min
Servings
8 servings
Calories
220 kcal
Course
Dessert
Cuisine
Albanian
Cooking for
8 servings
Units

As written.

Ingredients

0 of 6 ticked

  • No vanilla bean?

    Use 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract per bean. Stir it in once the sauce comes off the heat.

You'll need

  • Small saucepan (for warming the milk)
  • Bigger saucepan (for cooking the sauce)
  • Small knife (for the vanilla bean)
  • Glass bowl
  • Whisk
  • Spatula
  • Baking tray
  • Small bowl and a fork (for the egg wash)
  • Pastry brush

Instructions

  1. Warm the milk

    • In a saucepan, let’s put together 4 cups milk and 1 vanilla bean.
    • Make sure we slice the vanilla bean in half vertically before we put it into the milk.
    • We are going to let the mixture warm up until it looks like this.
    Milk foaming in a saucepan around a split vanilla bean, with the seeds spreading through the milk
    • You need
    • 4 cups milk
    • 1 vanilla bean
  2. Mix the eggs, sugar and cornstarch

    • In a glass bowl, let’s combine together 3 eggs, 1 cup sugar and 4 tbsp cornstarch.
    • We are going to mix it really well until the sugar is fully dissolved.
    • The cornstarch is going to help us achieve the thickness, so the more cornstarch you add, the thicker the consistency is gonna be.
    • You need
    • 3 eggs
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 4 tbsp cornstarch
  3. Add the milk slowly

    • Take the vanilla bean out of the milk and let’s start adding the milk slowly to the mixture.
    • Do not add it all at once, because the heat of the milk is going to cook the eggs, which is not something that we’re looking for.
    • Once we have added all the milk, let’s grab the vanilla bean and scrape out all the seeds inside it.
    • Mix it really well and now let’s move it into a bigger saucepan.

    Slowly, or the milk cooks the eggs.

  4. Cook the sauce

    • Turn the heat to medium and continuously mix until the mixture becomes a sauce.
    • This should take about 10 to 12 minutes.
    • Once our sauce is ready, let’s put it aside and prepare some egg wash.
  5. Into the baking tray

    • For the egg wash, beat 1 egg with a fork.
    • In a baking tray, let’s add the qumështor sauce and even it out.
    • Let it cool down for a little bit and then cover it with the egg wash that we prepared earlier.
    Brushing beaten egg over the vanilla custard in a dark baking tray
    • You need
    • 1 egg
  6. Broil

    • We are going to broil this on high heat for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Nutrition per serving

Calories
220 kcal
Protein
7 g
Fat
6 g
Carbs
35 g
Fiber
0 g
Sugar
31 g
Sodium
90 mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, without vanilla bean.

Ju bëftë mirë!

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Video

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Questions

Questions about qumështor

What is qumështor?

An Albanian dessert made with milk, eggs, starch and sugar, baked in a pan. The name comes from qumësht, the Albanian word for milk, so in English it’s pretty much the milky dish. It can be sweet or salty, and this is the sweet one.

How do you pronounce qumështor?

choo-muhsh-TOR, with the stress on the last syllable. The Albanian q is close to the ch in “church”, and the ë is a short “uh”.

How is traditional qumështor made?

The Albanian dictionary describes it as milk, eggs, starch and sugar beaten together, spread in a pan and baked in the oven. Mine moves away from that a little. I cook the sauce on the stove first with a vanilla bean, then broil it under an egg wash.

Does qumështor have filo (petë)?

It can. Qumështor me petë is baked on a sheet of dough. This recipe has no dough, just the custard. Greek galaktoboureko is a different dessert, with custard between layers of filo and syrup on top.

How long does qumështor keep?

Keep it covered in the fridge, because it’s made with milk and eggs. USDA’s limit for leftovers is 3 to 4 days. Don’t leave it out for more than 2 hours (1 hour if it’s above 90°F/32°C).

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