My adaptation of a dish from a free grocery store recipe card! It is juicy, chocolatey, and delicious. Warm servings of the tart with cream fraiche are preferred.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 2 to 9 – inch tarts |
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a medium mixing bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter or margarine and 1 cup sugar. Add 1 egg and beat until mixture is smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture just until ingredients are thoroughly combined. Press mixture into bottom and sides of two 9-inch pie pans.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.
- In a large saucepan, combine milk, vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon butter or margarine. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then remove from burner.
- In a separate bowl, mix together 2 1/2 tablespoons flour, cornstarch, and 1/2 cup sugar. Add beaten eggs to sugar mixture and whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk mixture into milk. Return pan to heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 5 minutes. Pour half of mixture into each pastry shell. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 241 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 36 g |
| Cholesterol | 57 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 146 mg |
| Sugars | 22 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Loved it. We had too much goats milk and this needed 4 cups! The pie crust is like a cookie and delicious. The custard is perfect and was so easy. It was setting up as I poured it into crust. I made 2 tarts and a pie. Lovely! This recipe is a keeper. I’m thing maybe some blueberry sauce. ♥️
Def did not make the crust. Having tried many a melktart recipes and finding the crust turning disgusting I made a graham/ sugar crust instead. CRUST: 1.5 C graham crackers, ground to fine crumbs, 6TBL melted butter and 1/3 C sugar. (I made mini tarts in muffin tin.) this was enough crust to fill normal muffin tin pan. Baked crust 375 6 min. Cool completely.
It was absolutely delicious. The pastry rose like a baby muffin but that might be because I made mini tarts. I think next time I will leave out the baking powder. But overall the flavors were delicious. I added some coconut to the pastry because my family absolutely goes nuts for coconut in virtually anything.
These were delish. I used whole wheat flour and the crust came similar to a Graham cracker crust. The custard is delicious. I also used a blend of cinnamon and brown sugar to sprinkle on top, and muffin tin tartlets. I had never heard of this South African dessert, but a great way to use up milk!
Lightest, smoothest, most delicious milk tart filling I’ve ever made. No better recipe than this! Can’t comment on the pastry as I used my own recipe for that.
Renee, this is a foolproof recipe, I have not changed the recipe and it works like a wonder everytime. I am requested to bring it to every family function! Thank you!
This recipe is for keeps. I don’t think there is any better milk tart recipe out there. My kids said it’s the best milk tart they’ve ever had and I couldn’t agree more. Love it love it love it
It was the best I’ve ever made it was exactly how it sounded DELICIOUS !!!!!! 🙂
I made this according to the original recipe with 2% milk and it was delicious! Wonderful light creamy flavor and great consistency. The crust I baked 13 minutes and would have preferred 15-16 for a bit darker cookie crust but it was delicious and very sweet. It did not stick to my glass pans but I greased and floured them first. Great authentic recipe! Don’t be afraid to press the crust thin, it puffs up well. Will definitely make these again! First time I’ve had this in over 10 years & just as good as I remember.
I am very disappointed. I didn’t like this at all. Despite reading other reviews, pressing the crust thinner, and not using all the crust dough, the crust was still way too thick – I ended up eating the filling off the crust. The filling also wasn’t very tasty, and didn’t at all remind me of traditional South African milk tart. I won’t be using this recipe again.
An easy recipe that I’ll definitely make again! I sprinkled nutmeg on top in addition to cinnamon.
So good! Makes a lot too.
My husband and his SA friends all loved this. They said it was amazing and just like at home. They did suggest to save time and is equally delicious to make the base using Tennis biscuits. I assume they meant in a cheese cake base kinda way. I will try that next time i do a SA shop and stock up on Tennis biscuits.
For those of you who do not like an extremely sweet dessert, this tart is a perfect treat. I followed the recipe as it stated. However, I would like to add more vanilla on the next one. I would also like to experiment with other flavors. Except for the crust, which by the way is delicious, it’s just like an old fashion custard pie. And yes, I will be making it again.
I followed the directions and it came out as expected – it looks just like the photo. I found it pretty easy to make according to the instructions. The pie was pretty good. I’m just not sure that I’m a huge fan of vanilla custard pie. On the other hand, it may be one of those dishes that has much more flavor the next day.
this is the exact family recipe my gran shared with my mom and then to me. So so very grateful because she lost the only wrinkled and ruined handwritten version we had. Just perfect if you wait for the crust to cool. thank you.
I’m from South Africa and this tastes like the real thing. You can use less sugar in the filling and the pastry if you want it less sweet. I took off 1/4 cup of sugar out of everything and it was very good.
Exactly as I remember! Best SA milk tart recipe I’ve ever had. All my SA family and US friends have enjoyed this recipe. Made it about ten times already since I found it!
I made this for my South African History class and the South African couple who were there said it was perfect! Tasted sorta like a Snickerdoodle with custard.
I tried this recipe and believe me when I say,”if you READ THE REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BEGIN you’ll do fine”!! The reviews will let you know what to expect and prepare you for a recipe that’s a bit of a challenge, but really WORTH IT!!! I used a “Greased No-Stick” 24 count mini tart pan and a wooden press; with remaining dough used for cookies. It worked out fine. I knew from reading reviews that the dough would rise out of the pan once baked so my wooden press was at the ready. When they came out of the oven and cooled just a bit, I simply pressed the shells back into the pan and they regained their shape. I promptly removed them once they were cool enough to keep their shape and they turned out perfect. Just be gentle and you’ll do fine. (My next batch I will try for 48 minis with no left over for cookies) The custard was great although I will thin it out next time. I filled the tarts, put the remainder in dessert dishes with a cookie on the side and they ate it up. I took some tarts to my friend who is a doctor from South Africa, and he and the kids LOVED them!! Thank you so much for your recipe and all your reviews……they really are very helpful. The ONLY negative was trying not to nibble while I was preparing it because they were sooooo tasty!!!
I tried this.It is very easy to make and very delicious. My son likes it very much. Thank you very much…