Gypsy tart with condensed milk how to#

Kent-born food writer Rosie Birkett, whose new book The Joyful Home Cook is out in May, says: “It always felt like a real treat as kids.

The filling must be used immediately but the cooked tart can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.Chef Mark Sargeant recalls it being served up “every lunchtime” during his schooldays in Maidstone, yet, he observes sadly, “people who aren’t from our area never seem to have heard of it”.

Don’t overcook as it will souffle and then sink.

Pour over the pastry case and cook until the milk tart is set.

Leave to cool before folding in the whipped egg whites.

Return to the heat to cook out the flour and thicken.

Add the hot milk to the egg yolk mixture a little at a time so it doesn’t curdle the eggs.

If it does burn, pour the milk into a clean pot to continue or the dessert will have a bitter scorched flavor.

Bring the milk to the boil on a medium high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden to stop it catching on the bottom.

Defrost in the fridge overnight before use.

The pastry can be made ahead and frozen for up to 6 months.

The cooked filling for the easy milk tart recipe is scented with vanilla and cinnamon and is smooth and creamy without being overly sweet.

Method 3: For my baked South African milk tart with condensed milk I combined the two techniques above, using my own homemade short crust pastry.

Method 2: Use a blind baked short crust pastry base and cooked filling that is baked again to set the custard.

Method 1: Use an uncooked short crust pastry base and very liquid filling of milk, eggs and condensed milk that is baked once only.

I remembered that when I used to make a traditional Cape Malay milk tart recipe from a cousin back in the day, I used condensed milk and hot water in the filling.

Gypsy tart with condensed milk how to#

I spent a few hours browsing through my recipe files, and the closest I came to finding my late Aunty Josie’s easy traditional milk tart recipe, was a comment on her pineapple tart recipe saying ‘use the same base as the milk tart’.Īunty Josie showed me how to make a milk tart when I was still in high school and drawing on those memories, I developed my own South African milk tart recipe with condensed milk instead of sugar in the filling. Unfortunately for me, the South African milk tart recipes that I loved most growing up are not recorded anywhere. There are also no-bake milk tart recipes but I have never acquired the taste for them and prefer the taste of the baked milk tart filling. The two South African milk tart recipes used my maternal and paternal aunts use similar ingredients for a baked milk tart recipe but the filling looks and tastes totally different, though equally delicious. Whether you know it as old fashioned custard pie, South African custard tart, egg custard tart or egg custard pie, melktert recipes in each family are often strictly guarded and handed down from generation to generation. Yes, that’s really a thing in South Africa because we really love our old fashioned milk tart or ‘melktert’.

The South African Milk Tart is such a well loved traditional South African dessert that there is even a National Milk Tart day. This classic baked Traditional South African milk tart recipe with sweetened condensed milk is scented with vanilla and cinnamon and will have you coming back for more.