Melktert, milk tart… a classic by any other name is just as sweet

LONG live the milk tart, long live! So ends the introduction to this delectable title, the sixth by sibling duo Callie and Mari-Louis.

The couple is renowned for successful cookbooks, attractive styling and popular cookery columns, while Mari-Louis is also a judge on the popular television series on KykNET.

The very word induces nostalgia for the best of Afrikaner cooking.

There is little else that can compete with this dessert in terms of comfort food and, right now, it makes a welcome contrast to the non-stop flow of low-carb,

The South African Milk Tart Collection

high fat, no-sugar cookbooks that have flooded the market over the past few years.

Here sugar, butter, milk, eggs and wheat flour are the basics required to produce irresistible fare when treats are in order.

The authors open with a brief history of custard tarts and offer a 16th-century Dutch recipe which could claim to have inspired the tarts baked by the first European settlers at the Cape of Good Hope.

The incomparable C Louis Leipoldt features next with an updated version of his French-style milk tart, a deep

(flaky) crust filled with a custard flavoured with vanilla essence and a dash of brandy.

or milk soup, another traditional recipe – here sugar or egg – presents the dough on top and the chapter includes recipes for both Voortrekker and Cape Colony pioneer

Next up are starting with “proper” milk tart, which is characterised by a double-frilled collar.

This is a cardamom-flavoured tart developed by the Cape Malays and the writers’ own best bake, a childhood memory where flaky leaf pastry encloses a soufflé filling.

Reuben Riffel’s version combines cinnamon and nutmeg, a replaces the pastry in a Transvaal tart, and peach leaves flavour one from Bloemfontein.

A chapter of tarts using a crumb base includes a coconut version; others moving away from the classic include toppings such as condensed milk meringue.

Individual milk tarts are a perennial favourite for teatime, TV time, coffee mornings and more.

The authors investigate egg custard tarts entrenched in the culinary repertoires of the US, Europe and even the Far East, then turn to a chapter of desserts and cakes with milk tart flavours, including vanilla cheesecake.

There’s also one for Banting followers, using a coconut oil and Xylitol crust and coconut flour in the filling.

This is a very attractive hardback, with beautifully styled food photographs, as one expects these days, finished with a comprehensive index.

A cookbook to cherish.