Every year on the 27th of February we celebrate National Milk Tart Day in South Africa.
Growing up I never liked the taste of cinnamon, so I can’t say that I’ve been a lifelong fan. Luckily my taste buds have matured a bit. Now all I can do is to keep obsessing about all the marvelous milk tarts I may have missed out on.
If you are not familiar with this traditional tea-time treat, it is a sweet pastry crust filled with a rich, creamy custard filling, with a dash of cinnamon.
Check out this recipe by local Chef, author and personality Zola Nene, as published by Woolworths, if you want to try to bake your own: Milk Tart
Believe it or not, I have never tried to make a milk tart from scratch. A couple of years ago, I made these cupcakes with a milk tart filling, but I have actually not attempted the full Monty yet. I guess I feel a bit intimidated by the thought of having to make a crust from scratch, so that is my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
I took the opportunity to focus more on the “liquid version” of the milk tart. Using the same flavour profile, i.e milky, sweet, cinnamon – with a dash of alcohol, the “Melktertjie” (translating to milk tartlet/little milktart) was born. Since my first sip, as student on a limited budget, I’ve always had a soft spot for this quick and easy – and super decadent shooter-style drink. No special bar equipment or advanced mixology techniques needed. All you need is a can opener and a bottle to mix your melktertjie in.
So, here we go.
Melktertjies
300 ml vodka (you can use more or less, depending how boozy you want it)
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
1 tin evaporated milk
Mix the three ingredients together and chill for a couple of hours.
And that is seriously it.
I kept my boozy mixture in a bottle in the fridge and just gave it a shake now and again to be sure that the sweet and sticky condensed milk mixes properly.
Bring on my liquid dessert for #NationalMilkTartDay. Pour the melktertjie-mix in a shooter glass and a dash of ground cinnamon and there you go!
Cheers!
PS: By pure coincidence, the 27th of February is also #KahluaDay. So while I was on a roll, I decided to make my own ‘Koffie en Melktert” (Coffee and milk tart) concoction. Just an excuse to have “tea time” late on a Saturday afternoon.
In an espresso cup, I had two shots of Kahlua, topped up with Melktertjie mix. A successful experiment, if I do say so myself!
