This post is also available in: Deutsch (German)

It does not matter if you go to Mugg & Bean or to a farm stall somewhere in the Karoo: In places, where you can drink coffee, most of the time you can also eat melktert. Translated the word means “milk tart” and it is something between a dessert and a cake. In reality it is not a cake, as nothing much is baked, but it is traditionally eaten more like cake, together with a cup of coffee.

You will find two types of meltert: with or without a pastry base (“korslose melktert”). Personally I don’t like melktert without a base, as it is the combination of soft filling and crunchy base that makes melktert perfect.

You will find lots and lots of recipes for melktert. We want to show you a really easy one, as you do not have to bake the pastry base.

Ingredients

The Filling

400 g Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 litre Milk
30 ml Custard Powder
100 ml Corn Starch
3 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
2 tablespoons Butter or Margarine
1 pinch Salt

The Base

2 tablespoons Butter or Margarine
100 g Biscuits, preferably “Tennis Biscuits”

Additionally

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon [amazon link=”B071HSW2MY” /]

Preparation

The Base:

Crunch the biscuits .
Melt the butter or margarine until it is liquid. Mix with the biscuit crumbs.
Put the crumbs into a springform and press it tight.
Let it cool off until the butter is hardened again.

The Filling:

Beat the whites of the eggs until foamy, but not hard.
Add a pinch of salt.
Mix about 900 ml of the milk and sweetened condensed milk together in a big pot. You will need the rest of the milk to mix the corn starch and custard.
Stir the milk well to prevent it from burning.
Mix the rest of the milk together with the corn starch and custard powder and stir it into the almost cooking milk.
When the custard is cooking, take it off the oven and stir in the butter and vanilla essence.
The stir in lightly the foamy egg whites.
Let it cool off for about half an hour.

The Fusion of Base and Filling:

Pour the custard on top of the biscuit base.
Sprinkle with cinnamon.

When the filling has cooled off completely, cut into pieces and enjoy it with a cup of coffee.

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If you are interested, you can also watch our video, explaining what we do.