Melktert
A milk tart genuinely tracing to 17th-century Dutch settlers at the Cape, believed to have evolved from the Dutch mattentaart, a cheesecake-like tart, with a documented recipe lineage running back to Thomas van der Noot's 16th-century Dutch cookbook, Een Notabel Boecxken van Cokeryen, a real and well-documented history rather than a later invention. Real melktert builds a light, egg-thickened custard from a high proportion of milk rather than a dense, heavy filling, set in a shortcrust pastry shell and finished with a dusting of cinnamon.
VegetarianDessert
⚠ Contains: Dairy, Egg, Gluten. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 1 shortcrust pastry shell, blind-baked
- 4 cups milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup cornflour
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Ground cinnamon, to finish
Steps
- Warm the milk in a saucepan.
- Whisk the sugar, eggs, and cornflour together, then temper with a little warm milk before whisking back into the pot.
- Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens.
- Stir in the butter and vanilla, then pour into the blind-baked pastry shell.
- Chill until set, and dust generously with cinnamon before serving.