Rooibos Infused Milk Tart
Milk Tart is a delicious dessert that has become one of South Africa’s most loved treats! It is one of my favourite South African desserts because it is not overly sweet or rich and it’s quick and easy to make. In this recipe I have up the ante by making a twist on the old favourite with a delectable light, silky smooth Rooibos Infused Custard, with a light buttery sweet short crust pastry and topped with a generous dusting of cinnamon.
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 80 Gr Butter
- 1/3 Cup Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 Cup Flour Sifted
- 1 Tsp Baking Powder
- Pinch of Salt
For the Filling
- 4 Cups Full Cream Milk
- 4 Rooibos Tea Bags
- 100 Gr Butter
- 2 Whole Cinnamon Sticks
- 1/4 Cup Flour
- 1/2 Cup Corn Flour
- 3/4 Cup Sugar
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 4 Large Eggs Separated
Instructions
For the Pastry
- The crust for this recipe does not require any rolling out, you simply press the dough into the pie dish and press it gently with a spoon to smooth out the dough.
- Sift the flour and the baking powder into a mixing bowl or food processor and stir in the salt.
- Blitz all the ingredients together in a food processor until it all clumps together to form a dough or if you do not have a food processor you can mix it by hand by sifting the flour and the baking powder into a bowl, then rubbing in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs then adding the rest of the ingredients and gently incorporating everything together until the mixture just comes together as a dough.
- Roll the dough into a ball, then wrap in cling film and chill for 1 hour.
For the Filling
- Line a pie dish of ± 26 cm in diameter with the pastry.
- Combine the milk, rooibos tea, butter and cinnamon sticks in a saucepan. Bring to a slow boil. You do not want the milk to get scorched.
- Switch off the heat and leave to stand for 15 minutes for the rooibos tea to infuse.
- Remove the tea bags and the cinnamon sticks.
- Whisk together the flour, corn flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and egg yolks in a bowl and add a little of the infused milk and stir to form a paste.
- Add this to the remainder of the warm liquid and stir over very low heat until thick. Remove from the heat.
- Beat the egg whites in a clean glass bowl until soft peaks form.
- Fold the egg whites gently into the milk mixture.
- Pour into the prepared pastry shell. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired. (I love adding extra cinnamon)
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C for 10 minutes.
- Lower the heat to 180 °C and then bake for a further 25 minutes.
- Leave the tart to cool completely before serving.
Notes
Important Tips to Remember When Making the Pastry
- It is important to not overwork the pastry in the food processor, and instead, use your hands to bring the mixture together until it forms a uniform dough.
- The resting of the pastry is important in order to relax the gluten.
- Docking the pastry refers to pricking the base with a fork so that the steam can escape and it does not rise up. Why do we do this? The dough when baking will try to grow and if not pierced it will puff and that will reduce the amount of space left for the filling.
- Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour in order to make it easier to work with.
- After resting, line a 26cm pie dish with the pastry, such that it nicely comes up the sides. Use a fork to crimp the edges.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!