Melktert

🥧 Milk custard tart with a soft texture and a dusting of cinnamon, found in Namibia’s Afrikaans baking traditions.

Ingredients

• 🌾 For the pastry: 250 g wheat flour
• 🧈 125 g cold diced butter
• 🍚 60 g sugar
• 🥚 1 medium egg yolk
• 💧 30 ml cold water, adjusted slightly as needed
• 🧂 2 g fine salt
• 🥛 For the custard: 750 ml whole milk
• 🍚 150 g sugar
• 🥚 3 medium eggs
• 🌽 45 g cornstarch
• 🧈 30 g butter
• 🌿 5 ml vanilla extract and 2 g ground cinnamon

Preparation

Mix flour, sugar and salt. Rub in the cold butter until fine crumbs form. Add the yolk and cold water gradually, just enough to bring the dough together.

Flatten into a disc, wrap and refrigerate for 20 min. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Roll out the pastry, line a 23 cm tart pan and prick the base.

Line with baking paper and baking weights, then blind-bake for 15 min. Remove paper and weights and bake for 5 min more until dry but not deeply browned.

While it bakes, heat the milk in a saucepan until steaming. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and cornstarch until smooth.

Slowly whisk a ladle of hot milk into the egg mixture. Return it to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick and just bubbling.

Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Immediately pour the hot custard into the prebaked shell and smooth the surface.

Mix cinnamon with a little of the remaining sugar if desired, then dust evenly over the tart. Bake at 180 °C for 15 min until the edges are set and the centre still trembles slightly.

Cool at room temperature for 45 min, then refrigerate for at least 3 h. Unmould and cut into 8 portions once the custard is firm.