• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to footer navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to recipes navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Immaculate Bites

African and Caribbean Recipes Made Easy

  • All Recipes
  • Contact Me
  • Meet Imma
  • Facebook Instagram Pinterest YouTube
  • How To’s
  • 59 Mins or Less
  • Chicken
  • Baking
  • Beverages
Home / Types / African Recipes / African Desserts

Milk Tart

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
Published:11/01/2020Updated:11/01/2020

Milk Tart/Meltert – Easy, Rich and Creamy – Perfect entertaining pie with an easy press-on pastry crust.  Milk Tart It doesn’t take much to make this delicious, perfect-for-entertaining tart. This popular South African milk tart qualifies as one of those quick and easy tarts to whip up in a pinch. All the ingredients for this milk tart are right in your pantry – no extra shopping needed and it is all made from scratch. And the best part – it is very comforting and great for the holiday season. Milk Tart Milk Tart or as the Afrikaans call it Meltert is a creamy milky tart. A little reminiscent of custard pie but more delicate, with a lighter texture and a strong milk presence. Don’t wait for this pie to firm up – it just doesn’t, more of a pudding with a crust.  It is made with a sweet pastry crust often referred to as Pate sablée, the good thing about this pastry is that you do not have to worry about rolling it out – all you do is press the crust into the pie pan – freeze for 30 minutes and then bake without weight. Freezing prevents the pie from rising. Milk Tart Here are a couple of tips when making milk tart

  • You can make the crust ahead of time, bake and leave out until ready to be use.
  • Use store bought pastry pie if you are pressed on time
  • Switch up the flavors, I used nutmeg and cinnamon
  • A lot of recipes call for throwing in a cinnamon stick so it infuses the milk mixture – if you have some handy by all means use it, if not just use cinnamon spice.

Enjoy!

Looking for more recipes? Follow on...
My Newsletter
Print

Milk Tart

Milk Tart/Meltert – Easy, Rich and Creamy -Perfect entertaining pie with an easy press on pastry crust.
4.84 from 25 votes
Cook: 35 mins
Total: 35 mins
African
Servings 7

Ingredients

Sucre Patee (Pastry Crust)

  • 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup (35grams ) confectioner’s sugar powdered sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 9 Tablespoons (125grams) unsalted butter(cold or frozen) , cut into small pieces
  • 1 large egg yolk

Milk filling

  • 2 1/4 (296 ml) cups milk
  • 2 tablespoon (28grams) butter
  • 2 tablespoons (20 grams) flour
  • 3-4 tablespoons (23- 30grams) cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup (100grams) sugar
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg or replace with cinnamon
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Pastry Crust

  • Butter or spray a 9-inch pie pan with a removable bottom – making sure it is has been adequately sprayed. Set aside
  • Place flour, salt and sugar in a food processor pulse for a couple of times to mix ingredients.
  • Throw in butter and pulse until rough dough forms.
  • Then add egg yolk - pulse until the dough barely comes.
  • Remove dough place on a work surface - knead just enough to incorporate all the dough. Working the dough as little as possible.
  • Do not overwork the dough; otherwise it’ll be too tough. When it’s ready, the dough will be barely moistened and come together into a ball.
  • Lightly press the dough on the prepare pie pan – working from the center up until the bottom and sides are fully covered with pastry – again be very gentle when pressing the dough onto the pie pan.
  • Place pie pan in the freezer and freeze for at least 30 minutes or more this helps prevent the dough from rising- if you are in a rush brick, then bake with beans to prevent rising.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven
  • Bake crust for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is dry and golden browned. Set aside

Milk Filling

  • Place saucepan over medium heat, add butter, nutmeg and milk -bring to a boil and remove from the heat.
  • In another bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla and almond extract- whisk in eggs until smooth. Gently whisk into the saucepan making sure there are no lumps
  • Now return the pan back on the stove – keep stirring constantly until in starts to bubble.
  • Cook for about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and pour mixture into the baked pastry shell Sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill until ready to be served.

Tips & Notes:

  1. You can make the crust ahead of time, bake and leave out until ready to be use.
  2. Use store bought pastry pie if you are press for time
  3. Switch up the flavors, I used nutmeg and cinnamon- just love the flavor combination
  4. A lot of recipes call for throwing in cinnamon stick so it infuses the milk mixture – if you have some handy by all means use it, if not just use cinnamon spice.
 

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 416kcal (21%)| Carbohydrates: 48g (16%)| Protein: 7g (14%)| Fat: 21g (32%)| Saturated Fat: 12g (75%)| Cholesterol: 125mg (42%)| Sodium: 167mg (7%)| Potassium: 149mg (4%)| Sugar: 24g (27%)| Vitamin A: 735IU (15%)| Calcium: 107mg (11%)| Iron: 1.6mg (9%)
Author: Immaculate Bites
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: African
Tag Us On Instagram!Did you make this recipe? I love hearing how it turned out! Tag me on Instagram @ImmaculateBites and be sure to leave a rating below!
Follow on Instagram

Nutrition Facts
Milk Tart
Amount Per Serving
Calories 416 Calories from Fat 189
% Daily Value*
Fat 21g32%
Saturated Fat 12g75%
Cholesterol 125mg42%
Sodium 167mg7%
Potassium 149mg4%
Carbohydrates 48g16%
Sugar 24g27%
Protein 7g14%
Vitamin A 735IU15%
Calcium 107mg11%
Iron 1.6mg9%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Milk tart Milk Tart Milk Tart Milk Tart  Milk Tart Milk TartMilk Tart Milk Tart Milk Tart Milk Tart Milk Tart Milk Tart Milk Tart

Join & Receive A Free Recipe Book!

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Review Cancel reply

    I love hearing from you! Submit your question or recipe review here. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Made this? Rate this recipe:




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Comments & Reviews
    1. Jeanne Barnes says

      Posted on 1/7 at 7:43PM

      I actually threw out my grandmothers milk tart recipe because I love this one so much and it’s quicker and easier to make!

      I live in Australia and make this for my Aussie friends and everyone absolutely loves it. I serve it up with a few blueberries/strawberries and a bit of whipped cream on the side.

      I used half the amount of sugar for the filling and it was still delicious! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
    2. Kelly says

      Posted on 11/30 at 9:51AM

      Hi – I think the problem here is that the metric and imperial measures are not converting accurately, so imperial calls for 3-4 spoons of cornstarch and metric calls for 2! It’s hard to know which one to follow.

      Reply
      • ImmaculateBites says

        Posted on 12/16 at 3:30PM

        3-4 Tablespoons would do just fine.

        Reply
    3. Lisa says

      Posted on 11/11 at 6:18AM

      I’ve made this recipe several times for friends from South Africa. They say it tastes just like they remember from home. My own family loves it too – it’s such a homey comforting food. I also love how easy it is to make. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

      Reply
      • Imma Adamu says

        Posted on 11/12 at 12:07AM

        You’re welcome, Lisa! I’m glad that you and your friends loved it!

        Reply
    4. Michael Schach says

      Posted on 10/31 at 3:30PM

      Filling was extremely stodgy … please review the gram weight values for the flour in the filling … 2 tablespoons should be more around 20g … not 57g . Had to scramble by adding another 225 g milk to compensate

      Reply
      • ImmaculateBites says

        Posted on 11/1 at 5:10AM

        So sorry to hear about this . Recipe has been updated . Thanks

        Reply
    5. Michelle says

      Posted on 10/18 at 2:14AM

      There were a few comments on this recipe complaining that the filling was too runny. The tbsp equivalent of the flour is stated incorrectly in the recipe, hence some people battling – I weighed the flour (which ends up being around 7 tbsps), and that worked. A very yummy version of this South African treat!

      Reply
      • ImmaculateBites says

        Posted on 10/18 at 3:34PM

        I just made this recipe and 3-4 tablespoons of cornstarch works just fine . Milk tart is not suppose to be too firm. Have updated recipe.
        Thanks for taking time out to share this this .

        Reply
    6. Jeff says

      Posted on 10/15 at 4:43AM

      Simple and delicious. I used both cinnamon and nutmeg in the mixture (because I misread the instructions), and it turned out great. I used lowfat (1.5%) milk and cut back a tiny bit on the sugar, but the flavour didn’t suffer for it at all.

      Reply
      • ImmaculateBites says

        Posted on 10/15 at 7:53PM

        Thanks for sharing .Am so thrilled !

        Reply
    7. Stephanie says

      Posted on 10/13 at 5:51AM

      This was so amazing! I’m South African and have been living abroad for year. I made this for a dinner party and was so happy with how it turned out. I’d like to note that I made the pastry without a food processor and didn’t mind it too difficult at all. I would also highly recommend making this with full cream milk. Also half the nutmeg and no vanilla essence for a more traditional tasting milk tart

      Reply
      • ImmaculateBites says

        Posted on 10/15 at 8:32PM

        Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear it worked out well.

        Reply
    8. Charley de greeve says

      Posted on 10/7 at 7:43AM

      Saw this yesterday and thought I’d give it a go last night for my dad who is originally from SA, and I forgot to put the vanilla essence in tried again this afternoon, and used the half/half nutmeg – cinnamon in the mixture instead of just nutmeg.SO HAPPY with it! Takes me straight back to Durban❤️ Just make sure you keep mixing when on the job, and use heaped spoons of the cornflour. Thankyou so much for sharing x

      Reply
      • ImmaculateBites says

        Posted on 10/10 at 10:30AM

        Glad it worked out well, charley. Thanks for taking time out to share your thoughts with us .

        Reply
    Older Comments

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi! I’m Imma

    Hello! I'm Imma! Cooking up Exquisite African, Caribbean & Southern flavors with a flavorful twist You can too! In your kitchen. It's much more fun together. Join me.

    read more >
    • Southern
    • African
    • latin fusion
    • comfort food
    Top RECIPES of 2019
    free recipe book

    Each recipe has been reviewed and shared over 20,000 times!

    GET YOUR COPY!

    favorites...

    Chicken Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo

    Southern Baked Mac and Cheese

    Southern Baked Mac and Cheese

    Easy Homemade Bread

    Basic Homemade White Bread

    Caramel Cake

    As Featured On
     

    Today     Buzzfeed  Huffpost  Thekitchn

     

    Country living   African vibes   Greatist

       

    shape             African vibes

     
    Opens in a new window Opens an external site Opens an external site in a new window

    Trending Now

    Broiled Salmon

    Broiled Salmon

    Baked Crispy Chicken Thighs

    Baked Crispy Chicken Thighs

    Egg Fried Rice

    Egg Fried Rice

    Homemade Brioche Rolls

    Homemade Brioche Bread

    Recipe Index
    Shop My Faves
    About Imma
    Featured On

    RECEIVE POSTS BY EMAIL

      • EXPLORE
        • Recipe Index
        • African Recipes
        • Caribbean Recipes
        • Southern Recipes
        • Videos
      • RESOURCES
        • About Imma
        • Contact
        • Disclaimer
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms & Conditions
      Facebook Instagram Pinterest YouTube
      © 2021 - All Rights Reserved - Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
      Back To Top

      Subscribe & Receive A FREE Recipe Book!