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Unbaked milk tart (ongebakte melktert)
If you're looking for a South-African dessert or afternoon tea-time treat that can be made on either the stove-top or in the microwave oven, instead of being baked in a conventional oven, you will find this unbaked milk tart to be quick, easy, creamy and delicious.
This tart must be served chilled, unlike a traditional baked milk tart that can be enjoyed either cold, or fresh from the oven.
Ingredients
- 1 can (397 gram) condensed milk
- 3 1/4 cups (800 ml) fresh milk (you can also the empty condensed milk cans as measure: you need 3 cans full of milk)
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) cornflour
- 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla essence, or vanilla seeds scraped from a vanilla pod
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) butter
- 1 packet South African Tennis biscuits, or if not available, any other square or rectangular biscuit.
Method
Microwave method
- Combine condensed milk and 2 1/2 cans fresh milk together and heat until almost boiling. (This can take 5 to 8 minutes on high, depending on your microwave oven.)
- Mix cornflour, salt, eggs and remaining 1/2 can of cold fresh milk together.
- Add small quantities of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture, to gradually increase its temperature without cooking the eggs.
- Add the egg-and-milk mixture to the warm milk mixture while whisking briskly.
- Cook for 8 to 10 minutes on high in the microwave oven, but remove every minute and stir well before continuing.
- Add butter and vanilla.
- Line a large enough dish with biscuits. It works great if you line a rectangular or square Pyrex dish with square, South-African manufactured Tennis biscuits, but any plain biscuits can be used. Fill gaps between biscuits with broken biscuit pieces.
- Pour the warm mixture gently over the biscuit base.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon and allow it to set for 3 to 4 hours in the fridge.
Stove-top method
- Pour condensed milk and 2 1/2 tins of fresh milk into a saucepan and bring to simmer.
- Use 1/2 cup cold milk to prepare a paste with the corn flour, and add to the boiling milk. Stir continuously until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
- Beat the eggs in a separate container and add spoonfuls of the thickened milk-mixture to slowly raise the temperature of the egg mixture until warm.
- Add egg mixture to the thickened mixture while stirring continuously. Return to heat and cook slowly for a few minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add butter and vanilla essence.
- Pour into lined biscuits dish while mixture is still hot.
- Dust with cinnamon. Allow it to set in the fridge, for 3 to 4 hours.
Comments
mmmm... smaak soos Hannetjie se lekker melktert!!!
Wow Lekkerbek, dankie vir die kompliment: Tannie Hannetjie bak ongelooflik lekker!
A wonderful idea (tried and tested) is to replace 1 tin of milk with 1 tin of Amarula. Absolutely yummy.
I can imagine that Amarula will make it extra-special yes.
bettie crocker is ek nie, so wanneer my seunskind aan die yskasdeur hang met 'n 'is daar nie iets lekkers om te eet nie?' rys my hare! ek het toe vanoggend besluit dis nou of nooit, en 'n paar van die resepte hier probeer (oa die melktert). sukses! die resepte is maklik, vinnig, en ek het niks verbrand nie! vanaand smul ons almal - dankie! ierland groete
Hallo Ellen, ek is baie bly die resepte werk lekker vir julle gesin ook. ekself is ook mal oor daai melktert.
Well done on this site. I have been looking for a good milk tart recipe, so will give this one a go soon!
Thanks you for your kind words Carol. I hope you will enjoy the milktart (and other goodies) as much as we do
Hi there,
I see you mention to use tinned fresh milk would that be the same as evaporated milk? Please advise as I would love to make this recipe and I am in New Zealand. However we only get evaporated milk in tins not fresh milk. Also what size must the tinned milk be that is used in this recipe..
Thanks so much for your assistance and great recipe...am dying to make it once I know what to use ;-))
You need 3 1/4 cups of fresh milk (we use normal blue-cap milk). If you don't have a cup measure handy, the easy way to measure out the milk is to use the condences milk tin: three tins is very close to 3 1/4 cups!
I've updated the recipe to make it easier to follow though.
Trixie Jordaan from Pretoria shared her recipe for melktert with us:
MICROWAVE MILK TART
For the base:
200 g Marie biscuits, finely crushed (Trixie use an oat cereal, Bran Crunch from Heartland instead of biscuits)
125 g melted margarine or butter (Trixie reduced it to 90 gram margarine with the Bran Crunch)
Add the melted margarine to the crushed biscuits and stir until it resembles fine crumbs.
Line the base of a 23cm spring form cake pan (loose-bottomed cake pan) with baking paper. Press the crumbs firmly and evenly onto the base. Refrigerate while making the filling.
For the filling:
1 liter milk
3 jumbo eggs
130 ml corn flour
125 ml brown sugar
2 ml salt
25 ml margarine
10 ml vanilla essence
Heat the milk on high for 4 minutes.
In a 2 litre microwaveable container beat together (with an electric hand mixer), the eggs, corn flour, sugar and salt. (Beat the ingredients for four minutes, the time it takes for the milk to heat)
Pour the milk onto the egg mixture, stir (using a whisk) and microwave on 70% power for 1 minute. Stir and microwave another 2 minutes on 70% power. After stirring, cook on 70% until the mixture thickens, this takes about 4 minutes. (Stir after 2 minutes). Cook another minute or two to thicken the mixture even more. (Here you will have to use your own judgment re the time it takes for the filling to thicken properly, depending on the type of microwave you have, but it takes at least 6 minutes. In the beginning it seems as if it’s not thickening and then suddenly it thickens quickly. When it does start to thicken, it looks lumpy, do not worry, just whisk it thoroughly before continuing to cook. Whisk any “foaminess” away.)
Stir in the margarine and vanilla essence.
Pour the filling onto the crust, leave it for a minute and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Trixie sometimes leave the crust out and serve the milk tart in a 24 cm round greased ovenproof dish, as a dessert.
I cannot thank you enough for your wonderful milktart recipe. I have tried so many and my family have not loved any of the others as much as they have loved this one!! This is a definite winner!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us
Thanks for your kind words Tracy!
Can I freeze this melktert after making it?
Thanks
Maureen
Hi Maureen,
Personally I wouldn't freeze milktart - simply because it doesn't last in our house ;-)
I have a book about freezing which I consulted. The author of the book said "baked milktarts can be frozen" if they are sealed properly - like wrapped in foil.
Many things can be frozen - such as banana loaf, un-iced cake, scones, fridge cakes. But since this is not a baked milktart, I would rather not freeze this one.
Although, if you would like to freeze a small piece of this to experiment, and let us know how it went, you are very welcome to try.
What a great idea to put the Amarula in! A huge hit in our household. Baie Dankie
I just die for this recipe. A colleague of mine emailed it to us some time last year June and I've been hooked since! Well Done. Great winter dessert.
Hi all, from Sydney
Thanks for this site.
Just tried this recipe as was desperate for a taste of SA and I have 2 hungry teenagers also hanging on doors looking for something to eat.
It is busy cooling in the fridge as I type and I will let you know how it is received!
Thanks,
Rom
Baie dankie vir 'n maklike en HEERLIKE resep. Die tert het skaars tyd gekry om af te koel voor dit begin verdwyn het.
Gaan die resep vir die familie en vriende is SA stuur, laat mens nou hier in die verte moet kom leer om ou gunstelinge te maak.
Sue ek is bly julle het dit ook so baie geniet soos ons. Ja daai tert het nie veel van 'n kans om nie geeet te word nie ;-)
will make it later today and add comment
my mond water omtrent