Gluten-Free Strukli Recipe - Croatian Cheese Pastry
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Zagorski Strukli is an extra special cheese-filled pastry, comparable to a lasagna. If you want a Croatian twist to your Christmas dinner this year, then this recipe is for you! What makes this strukli recipe extra special is that it’s gluten-free and lactose-free so that all of your guests can have a slice (or two!)
Watch How to Make This Gluten-Free Strukli Recipe Here:
Holiday season is on, and that means comfort food is in high demand! Furthermore, if you’re in a cold climate like myself (Canada!), then a nice piping hot casserole is seriously much needed! If you’ve been following the blog for awhile, you know that I love to try a new international dish each month. This month was Croatia, and when I was doing research on what to try out, I knew right away that this cheese strukli was the dish for me! Seeing that Christmas is soon approaching, I wanted to share something that would be a satisfying and unique addition to the holiday dinner table!
What’s going to make this recipe even better for the holidays is that it’s going to be gluten-free and lactose-free. It’s always no fun when someone misses out on a delicious dish. I can say it from personal experience that it’s just as bad for the person who made a dish to not see everyone enjoy as it is for the person with the dietary restriction!
This post will show you how to prepare strukli from scratch, in addition to tips and tricks for success and how to store extras (if there are any!) Whether you're an experienced cook or just starting out, I hope this recipe inspires you to explore new cuisines and bring the taste of Croatia to your kitchen as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! This time of year is truly amazing to try new creations in the kitchen since you’ve got the incentive to cook up dishes that will “wow!” people, so there’s no time like the present to get started on your cooking journey! Simply sign up to my email newsletter to get the challenge today, plus you’ll receive all of my latest recipes directly to your inbox so you’ve always got new kitchen inspiration!
To see how to we make the pastry and cheese filling and assemble it all together, then be sure to follow along with the video! If you’re not already, it would mean a lot to me if you could please subscribe to my YouTube channel! Don’t forget to press the bell button to be notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!
What is Strukli?
Strukli, also known as Zagorski štrukli, is a Croatian creamy cheese-filled pastry. This dish originated from the northern region of Croatian, Hrvatsko Zagorje. In fact, it’s one of the most loved traditional dishes of the region! The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia has awarded this Zagorje štrukli as a protected asset of nonmaterial culture. The rationale behind this is because the preparation of homemade strukli implies a special skilled possessed by nearly every housewife in the Croatian Zagorje region, in addition to the entire continental area of Croatia with some small differences in the recipe. Awarding this dish as a protected asset also demonstrates that the Zagorje region is a “true treasure trove of unusual delicacies which had to be devised by the resourceful women of Zagorje to feed their families in times of hardship and scarcity.” The dish started out from rural kitchens of the Zagorje region, where families had to cook meals solely based on what they produced, which included flour, eggs, milk and cheese. This dish was intended to be filling and special.
The method of preparation has been passed down through generations, where children would learn by observation the techniques of kneading, stretching, spreading, and rolling the dough, then practicing themselves. Since we’re all about learning new skills on this platform, I’m all for it! While certainly not with this dish, I was in the kitchen quite young fully engrossed in my family preparing food!
You can think of strukli as a lasagna, but instead of pasta noodles as the base, it will be a pastry. Strukli can be prepared two ways:
Boiled: Gently cook the filled pastry in salted water or broth to achieve pieces similar to a dumpling. Then, top these with fried breadcrumbs or serve them in a soup.
Baked: Arrange the filled pastry in a casserole dish and top with a cream mixture, then bake until the pastry is completely cooked and the top is golden brown.
The recipe I’ll be sharing today will show how to make the baked version. This dish sure is a indulgent treat, and it’s commonly served at such as weddings, Christmas, family celebrations food festivals, and even for Sunday meals. However, Croatians like to enjoy this as an everyday dish as well because it’s just such a staple to the culture! After making this dish, I would totally love to travel to Croatia to try it out by the pros!
Why You’ll Love This Strukli Recipe
Cheesy delight: Cheese lovers, this one is for you! Who doesn’t love a plate of molten and flavourful cheese with pastry? You can’t go wrong with this!
Amazing for the holidays: The holidays is a time to get people together and to celebrate the small things in life. As we saw earlier, the strukli is indeed a dish that brings everyone together, no matter the occasion! Your Christmas table will certainly be made extra special by celebrating Croatia with this irresistible cheesy pastry.
Dietary friendly: This Strukli recipe is unlike any other because it’s both gluten-free and lactose-free! This means that this recipe is accessible to those with various food intolerances so that there’s no reason to miss out from this delicious Croatian delight! When we’re thinking of a holiday meal, we don’t want people to feel they can’t be part of the celebration! Therefore, it was my goal to make this accessible to as many folks as possible despite dietary restrictions! Although it needed a bit of strategy, the pastry and cheese filling worked out perfectly being gluten-free and lactose-free. Furthermore, strukli is packed with high quality protein from the cottage cheese and eggs. In addition, the dairy here provides plenty of calcium to support strong bones and teeth, as well as vitamin D, vitamin B12 and vitamin A.
Equipment Needed to Make Strukli
What is Strukli Made of?
Scroll to the bottom of this page for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card or press the “Jump to Recipe” button for all ingredients and their quantities and to save the recipe for later. The recipe card can also help you scale the recipe based on how large your casserole dish is so that you know the right amount of pastry and cheese filling to make! The default recipe will give quantities for enough cheese filling and pastry for a 8 inch by 8 inch casserole, which will yield about 8 slices.
For the Dough
1 to 1 Gluten-Free Flour: This is the best alternative to regular wheat flour in terms of cooking properties and flavour.
Water: I notice that even with the gluten-free flour I’m using it’s still not an exact replacement for all purpose flour. We’ll need a bit extra water to combine with the flour, so add water as required.
Butter: For some additional flavour in the pastry, I’m using garlic butter! Feel free to use plain butter or even chilli butter if you would like.
Eggs: 1 large egg.
Salt: Just a pinch to season the pastry dough.
For the Cheese Filling
Cream: Typically, you would use half and half cream, also known as 10% cream. However, I’m using heavy cream because that’s what I could find that is lactose-free! For some reason, you can only buy a 1 L carton of lactose-free half and half, and I didn’t need all that! So, I’m using heavy whipping cream (35%) cream in this recipe. Of course we’ll use less since this cream is much richer, so don’t worry about that!
Cheddar: This is 3 year old white cheddar. You can use any cheddar of your choice, but the traditional choice is white cheddar. The wonderful flavour of the aged cheese is excellent here!
Cottage cheese: I’m using 2% lactose-free cottage cheese. You can use a higher fat cottage cheese if you’d like.
Sour cream: Full fat sour cream will make the filling really rich and luxurious.
Egg: A second large egg to bind all the ingredients together.
Seasonings: Dried thyme, garlic powder, ground nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Bomba: This is Calabrian chilli paste. Of course this ingredient is not authentic at all, but I wanted a little bit of heat added here, and now we’ve got an Italian flair to our dish! We’ll brush some on top once the strukli has finished baking.
How to Make Cheesy Croatian Strukli
For the Dough
Make the dough by combining the gluten free flour and salt in a bowl.
Add the egg, melted butter, and water, and mix until the dough forms. Add a little more water if it feels dry.
Rest the dough 15 to 20 minutes to hydrate fully.
Roll the dough between parchment sheets into a large rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.
For the filling
Make the filling by mixing together the cottage cheese, sour cream, egg, shredded cheddar, nutmeg, garlic powder, thyme, salt, and pepper until smooth.
To Assemble and Cook
Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge.
Use the parchment to roll the dough into a tight log. Cut into pieces about 2 to 3 inches wide.
Transfer to a buttered baking dish.
Pour the heavy cream and water over the top. Brush over Calabrian chilli pepper and sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheddar.
Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
Let rest for 5 minutes. Drizzle with Calabrian chili oil before serving.
Tips For the Best Croatian Strukli
If using half and half cream, add more of it for the topping and skip the step of diluting it with water. If using heavy cream, mix it with a little water so it coats without greasiness and absorbs evenly
If using regular all-purpose flour, bring a pot of salted water to a gentle boil and simmer the pieces for 5 to 6 minutes until they float and firm slightly. Simmer gently, not at a rolling boil; the pieces are ready when they float and feel slightly firm
The dough must be soft and well-rested; wheat dough needs time to relax to stretch thin, gluten-free dough should be rolled thicker and never pulled.
Drain the cottage cheese very well and season the filling slightly more than usual, since dough and cream mute flavour.
Spread the filling thinly and evenly, leaving a clear border so the roll seals without tearing.
Roll the dough gently using parchment or cloth and let the log rest a few minutes before slicing to keep the filling in place.
Traditional variations of strukli using wheat flour will brown faster than gluten-free. If the top is bubbling but pale, finish the strukli on the top rack or briefly broil it.
Serving Suggestions
Strukli can be served in a number of ways! Here is how strukli can be enjoyed depending on the situation and perhaps your hunger!
Snack: Have a single piece of boiled strukli and top it with molten butter or breadcrumbs. This way you can enjoy the taste of strukli when you’re feeling a bit peckish!
Appetizer: Having a small piece of strukli can be an excellent starter prior to a traditional Croatian meal.
Dinner: This is how I intended this recipe to be served as, and it will truly be a memorable meal! For a main dish, 2 to 4 pieces of strukli will really be special. You can enjoy it on its own or pair it with a light salad, such as my Arugula Salad
Dessert: You can lightly sweeten the cheese filling and add a touch of vanilla extract to transform this into a dessert. Of course, I’d suggest not to use garlic butter for the pastry and don’t top the casserole with bomba!
How to store Strukli
Storing Dough
If you’ve made too much strukli dough, then cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator. Make sure to use the dough within 2-3 days because the longer the dough stays in the fridge, the darker and harder it becomes.
Storing Extra Cheese Filling
If you follow the recipe, you should have the perfect amount of cheese mixture for the airtight container in the refrigerator. The cheese filling should stay good in the fridge for about 4 days.
Storing Cooked Strukli
Transfer any leftovers into an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will stay fresh for about 3 to 4 days due to the dairy.
You can reheat the strukli in the oven or the air fryer.
Freezing Cooked Strukli
You can certainly freeze strukli if you can’t finish them within 4 days. To store in the freezer, ensure to tightly wrap them in aluminum foil, and place in a large Ziploc bag. I would not keep this in the freezer for longer than 4 months because the risk of freezer burn increases.
More Delicious Cheesy Casseroles!
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Gluten-Free Strukli Recipe - Croatian Cheese Pastry
Zagorski Strukli is an extra special cheese-filled pastry, comparable to a lasagna. If you want a Croatian twist to your Christmas dinner this year, then this recipe is for you! What makes this strukli recipe extra special is that it’s gluten-free and lactose-free so that all of your guests can have a slice (or two!)
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
- 1 large egg
- 3 1/2 tablespoons molten garlic butter
- 2/3 cup water, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons more if needed
- pinch of salt
- 24 ounces (680 g) cottage cheese
- 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 6 ounces (140 g) aged white cheddar, shredded
- 1 teaspoon Calabrian chili paste (bomba)
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and black pepper
- 1 cup (250 mL) heavy cream plus 1/4 cup water
- 4 ounces (113 g) white cheddar cheese, shredded
- molten butter, for brushing
Instructions
- Make the dough by combining the gluten free flour and salt in a bowl.
- Add the egg, melted butter, and water, and mix until the dough forms. Add a little more water if it feels dry.
- Rest the dough 15 to 20 minutes to hydrate fully.
- Roll the dough between parchment sheets into a large rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.
- Make the filling by mixing together the cottage cheese, sour cream, egg, shredded cheddar, nutmeg, garlic powder, thyme, salt, and pepper until smooth.
- Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge.
- Use the parchment to roll the dough into a tight log. Cut into pieces about 2 to 3 inches wide.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a gentle boil and simmer the pieces for 5 to 6 minutes until they float and firm slightly. Transfer to a buttered baking dish.
- Pour the heavy cream and water over the top.Brush over Calabrian chilli pepper and sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheddar.
- Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
- Let rest for 5 minutes. Drizzle with Calabrian chili oil before serving.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
524Fat (grams)
30 gSat. Fat (grams)
15 gCarbs (grams)
46 gFiber (grams)
5 gNet carbs
42 gSugar (grams)
9 gProtein (grams)
21 gSodium (milligrams)
433 mgCholesterol (grams)
131 mgNutritional information is an estimate.
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Welcome to Cooking With Anadi. This platform is all about making cooking exciting and finding new ways to bring classic flavours and recipes at your service. Join me in my personal journey in the world of cooking. Hope you have a great ride!
