There are hundereds of ways to make bougatsa. This is my favourite.

Ingredients:
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1 liter milk (4.5 cups)
2 tbsp cornstarch
130 g sugar (2/3 cup)
100 g semolina (1/2 cup + 2tbsp)
pinch of salt
2 packs vanilla sugar (4 tsp)
50 g cold butter (1/4 cup)
8 sheets of phyllo dough
150 g melted butter (3/4 cup)

Start with whisking the eggs loosely.
Add the milk, cornstarch and sugar into pan and start cooking while stirring the milk. Add the semolina, pinch of salt and keep stirring. When it almost starts to boil, add the vanilla sugar and stir until the cream starts to boil.
Turn off the heat. Pour a cup of the hot pudding in the egg mix and whisk it hard to prevent from clotting. Now you can add this warm egg mix in the pan and stir it together with the 50 g cold butter into a nice cream. Let is set for at least one hour.
This cream is a treat on its own, but we are making a Bougatsa!

I used 8 sheets of phyllo dough, 60x40 cm (23 ½ “ x 15 ¾ “) and my pan size was 23 cm x 33 cm (9” x 14”)
Start with melting 150g butter and coat the pan with butter.
Now you can place one sheet of phyllo dough and drizzle a bit of the melted butter and proceed with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th layer, covering each layer with butter. The 5th layer you should fumble up on the bottom.
Now add the cream and spread it equally over the pan.
For the top I used 3 layers of phyllo. When ready, fold the ends of all the phyllo sheets inward to close the Bougatsa (and keep using butter).
Bake this “package” for 3035 minutes at 180C (360F) until golden brown.
Get it out of the pan and sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Bougatsa is usually eaten warm, but it’s up to you, if you can wait you can eat it also cold.

Enjoy.