National Milk Tart Day | Milk Tart Recipe

The 27th of February is National Milk Tart Day. Milk Tart is a traditional South African tea time treat, made with a delicious crust pastry, soft moist custard filling and flavoured with cinnamon.

Image from Charles Heynes

Milk tart (melktert) originates from the Dutch settlers in the Cape sometime in the 17th Century.   The first noted recipe for Mattentaart (Dutch) is in Thomas van der Noot’s book, “Een notabel boexcken van cokeryen” (1510).

Pop into your local Stellenbosch bakery and get your Milk Tart fix for tonight or if you want bragging rights try this easy milk tart recipe.

Easy Peezy Milk Tart Recipe 

• 200g Tennis Biscuits
• 385g tin condensed milk
• 41/2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon  butter or margerine
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1/3 cup cornflour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Arrange biscuits in the bottom of a large pie dish. Combine condensed milk, milk and butter in a bowl and heat until butter has melted. Beat the eggs, cornflour and vanilla essence together. Add to the milk mixture and microwave for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent lumps. The mixture will thicken gradually. Pour over the biscuit base base and sprinkle with cinnamon. Refrigerate until set.