Mmm mmm MELKTERT! Let me share one my favorite treats with you, a dish straight out of Africa, South Africa to be exact! This dish has been served as a dessert in our country for many MANY years, since the 1600s in fact! You won't find "tannie" (aunty) in our Afrikaans culture that doesn't know how to make this tart.

Melktert PRONOUNCED

(m-elk-tear-t)

 

or, if you are more on the English side like me, we just call it Milk tart!

The ingredients are extremely basic and I will go into detail below, but in essence, it made from ye old milk, flour, sugar and eggs. The milky taste is complimented with a sprinkling of cinnamon - ah, heaven! Like most tarts, it has its crusty base and the filling has a thick custardy texture. Mmmmelts in your mouth! 

I am going to be super generous with you and share the recipe that I used. This recipe was passed on from my granny, to my mom, to me!

Melktert Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:

Filling:

• 3 eggs (separate yolks and egg whites)
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1 cup of self-raising flour
• 4 cups of milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 2.5 ml vanilla essence
• Ground cinnamon

Instructions:

The crust: 

The filling:

1. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius
2. In a bowl, mix together your sugar and melted butter, until smooth.
3. Add your egg yolks and then beat until light and fluffy
4. Sift in flour and salt and blend well
5. Add vanilla essence and milk and blend well
6. In a separate bowl, whip three egg whites until stiff
7. Fold egg whites into your batter and pour over your crust
8. Bake for 25 minutes
9. Sprinkle with cinnamon
10. Serve hot or cold (I prefer cold)

The HISTORY

Melktert stems from the Dutch settlers in the Cape in the 1600s. The origin of Mattentaart is credited to a recipe listed in Thomas van der Noot's book, "Een notabel boexcken van cokeryen" (A Notable Book of Cookery) and it's possible that melktert developed from the same recipe. - http://www.food24.com/Recipes-and-Menus/South-African-Recipes/A-short-history-of-milk-tart-20150223

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A Little Bit About The Afrikaans Culture

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Today's Afrikaaners are mostly descendants from Western Europeans settlers who arrived on the Southern part of Africa back in the 1700s. The settlers mixed the two languages of Dutch and German to form what we call Afrikaans. The Afrikaans people settled in as farmers, or more commonly called Boere (boo-re). Since they stem from Western civilizations, the culture is similar, it's just the language and love for farming (and biltong) that sets us a part really!

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I hope you really plan to use my recipe and make the tart for yourself, it is very delicious, you won't be dissappointed, I promise!

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Much love - @sweetpea

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