I am the type of gal who finds cooking and baking to be the best therapy as I forget about all my troubles and the kitchen becomes my 'happy space'!
Before the world wide web was born, you would find recipe books piled up next to my bed for bedtime reading, as crazy as it sounds! What a relief however every time I meet kindred spirits who do the same, although these days it's the likes of Pinterest and Mrs Google :)
So a huge thank you to the team of @cookwithus - @pandamama, @offoodandart and @chefsteve for this contest, as it's right up my alley and many other steemians as well!
The family recipe I will share with you for 'Cook With Us' March Week 1 is called Milk Tart.
This is a crisp shortcrust base filled with a delicious creamy and fluffy vanilla egg custard with a sprinkling of cinnamon.
The beauty of this family favourite is that it's made with everyday pantry ingredients, yet produces a delicious teatime or dessert treat.
I will never forget standing on my Granny's kitchen chair to 'help' her in the days of church bazaars/fetes, as Milk Tarts were her contribution towards fund-raising.
My Gran had a big heart and even though she had to count her pennies, she would give generously.
There would literally be dozens of Milk Tarts in the kitchen, dining room and even the living room; I counted 48 tarts on one occasion!
Nowhere near 48, but this old family recipe makes 3 Milk Tarts (19 cm diameter).
Mom Lily took over from Gran and this became her specialty for any celebration.
Another plus is that one can bake the pastry, turn it out and cool on wire racks and store the pastry cases for up to a week in an airtight container and fill as required.
Mom regularly used to make a dozen of these pastry cases for an old friend who froze them and delighted her little grandson with instant treats.
These days I double up the pastry and freeze the cooked pastry cases which can be filled with a filling of choice.
Ingredients required.
Milk Tart Recipe
Pastry
125 gram Butter or a good Baking Margarine, at room temperature
125 ml White Sugar
1 Egg
500 ml Cake Wheat Flour
5 ml Baking Powder (not baking soda)
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Filling
1 litre Milk
175 ml White Sugar
Pinch Salt
50 gram Butter
150 ml Cornflour
3 Eggs, separated
5 ml Vanilla Essence
Method
Cream butter and sugar till smooth.
Add the egg (I doubled up my pastry for freezing therefore 2 eggs)
Beat till light and fluffy
Add dry ingredients and blend till mixture comes together and is smooth.
Press into buttered tart pans using fingertips.
These are my Granny's original tart pans, it's mine till death us do part :)
Bake at 170 C in fan oven (or 180 C in regular oven) for about 15-20 minutes or till a nice golden brown.
Leave to cool a little before loosening with the mechanism in the pan and carefully place on wire racks to cool.
Note - you can use foil pans and leave it in there after baking.
Once cool, place on serving plates.
Place milk, sugar, salt and butter in a deep pot, reserving approx 1/4 cup milk.
Bring to the boil.
Mix cornflour, egg yolks and vanilla essence with the extra milk till smooth.
Whisk egg whites till stiff peaks form.
Add cornflour mixture to milk just before it comes to the boil, use whisk and stir till thick and smooth and starts to bubble.
Fold in stiff egg whites.
Spoon hot filling into baked pastry cases.
Sprinkle cinnamon on top.
Enjoy with a cup of tea or a good filter coffee after dinner.
Note: Milk Tart is a traditional South African delicacy, but the old-fashioned recipe requires a puff pastry and the filling is baked in the raw pastry case. The resultant filling is quite runny and has to be eaten with a spoon, whereas Granny's Milk Tart has a crisp base, creamy filling and can be picked up by hand, so my Granny was way ahead of her time :)
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All images property of @lizelle
