South African Milk Tart - Melktert

This simple milk tart (melktert in Afrikaans) is a classic South African dessert. The creamy milk-based custard is cooked on the stovetop, poured into a cookie crust, and then dusted with cinnamon.

This traditional sweet pie with simple ingredients is easy to make, and you don't have to turn the oven on!

Milk tart is a South African dessert consisting of a sweet pastry crust and a creamy, custard-like filling made of milk, eggs, sugar, and flour.

It's believed that milk tarts such as this one may have originated amongst settlers at the Dutch Cape Colony in the 17th Century.

All recipes vary, but the common denominator is a rich, creamy filling cooked either inside or outside the crust, baked or cooked on the stove.

It's like eating pudding in a cookie crust, so what's not to love? It's effectively the South African version of Greek milk pie and sugar cream pie, both the Hoosier and my homeland's favorite one - krempita.

For more no-bake sweet treats, be sure to check out my 6 Ingredient No Bake Sand Cake and No-Bake Tiramisu Cheesecake.

Why you'll love this Milk Tart:

• No-bake: This melktert comes together easily and quickly and frees up your oven.
• Make ahead: This is a great option for a make-ahead dessert and is perfect if you are entertaining. It can be made days ahead of time.
• Easy to make gluten-free: Although this recipe has gluten in the base, it is easy to adapt to make it gluten-free, perfect if you or someone in your family has an intolerance.
• When you dust a little cinnamon or cinnamon sugar over a stencil or paper doily on top, it gives it a slightly bolder, more Instagram-worthy aesthetic!
• You can turn it into a boozy liquid dessert with this easy milk tart cocktail recipe!

🛒 Ingredients and Notes

• Bakers Tennis Biscuits: Much-loved in South Africa, buttery coconut biscuits might be hard to find locally. You can use digestive biscuits, graham cracker crumbs, or ready crust.
• Full-fat milk: Using full-fat dairy here is important because the consistency may change otherwise. Lower fat milk will also be less flavourful and creamy, so the tart may taste a little bland and watery.
• Cinnamon: Some versions cook the milk with cinnamon sticks to infuse it, but ground cinnamon will suffice.

None of the ingredients are rare - in fact, most of them are relatively essential baking ingredients!

The only thing you might struggle to find is the tennis biscuits, but you can use one of the substitutions that I recommended below!

🔪 Instructions

For the crust:

1. Blend the tennis or digestive biscuits with cinnamon and melted butter until well-combined.
2. Transfer to a tart pan. Place the pan in the fridge so that the crust can set while you make the filling.

For the filling:

1. Mix flour, cornstarch, ½ cup milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the rest of the milk and butter to a boil.
3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the hot milk, constantly whisking until thickened and thoroughly cooked.
4. Pour into the prepared crust and sprinkle with cinnamon.

And there you have it - a whole tart in 6 instructions - start-to-finish! I promise this one is s keeper, and once you've made it, you'll never stop loving it!

Milk Tart Variations:

This rich and delicious Afrikaner outydse (old-fashioned) dessert has many varieties.

Some versions use condensed milk and are baked in the oven with or without the crust. Others only require the crust to be baked.

The crusts also vary from easy press-on shortcrust pastry to flaky pie crusts (like homemade puff pastry) to tennis biscuit or cookie base.

You can also use a store-bought pie pastry or leave the crust completely out and bake the filling in a greased pan!

• You can pack the biscuits in a single layer on the bottom of the tart pan instead of crushing them into crumbs.
• Make the crust ahead of time; leave it in the fridge in the tart pan.
• Adding a cinnamon stick to the saucepan with milk will infuse the filling with a hint of cinnamon. Remove the stick before pouring filling over the crust.
• Stovetop custard is ready when it's thick enough to coat a whisk or a spoon well or if you're able to run a spoon through it and the line holds its shape.
• Decorate your tart by dusting ground cinnamon over a stencil, paper cut-out, or doily gently placed on top of the pie. Lift carefully.
• You can mix up the flavor a bit by using nutmeg and cinnamon instead of just cinnamon.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Everyone loves a creamy, vanilla custard-like filling paired with a gorgeous cinnamon flavor inside a perfect biscuit crust!

Especially with the texture contrast of the smooth, velvety center compared to the light, crisp crust - it's just incredible!

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Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in January 2019 and updated in January 2021 with new photos and recipe tips.