Milk Tart/Melktert – Easy, Rich and Creamy – Perfect entertaining pie with an easy press-on pastry crust. 
It doesn’t take much to make this delicious, perfect-for-entertaining tart. This popular South African milk tart qualifies as one of those quick and easy tarts to whip up in a pinch. All the ingredients for this milk tart are right in your pantry – no extra shopping needed and it is all made from scratch. And the best part – it is very comforting and great for the holiday season. 
Milk Tart or as the Afrikaans call it Melktert is a creamy milky tart. A little reminiscent of custard pie but more delicate, with a lighter texture and a strong milk presence. Don’t wait for this pie to firm up – it just doesn’t, more of a pudding with a crust. It is made with a sweet pastry crust often referred to as Pate sablée, the good thing about this pastry is that you do not have to worry about rolling it out – all you do is press the crust into the pie pan – freeze for 30 minutes and then bake without weight. Freezing prevents the pie from rising. 
Here are a couple of tips when making milk tart
- You can make the crust ahead of time, bake and leave out until ready to be use.
- Use store bought pastry pie if you are pressed on time
- Switch up the flavors, I used nutmeg and cinnamon
- A lot of recipes call for throwing in a cinnamon stick so it infuses the milk mixture – if you have some handy by all means use it, if not just use cinnamon spice.
Enjoy!
Milk Tart
Ingredients
Sucre Patee (Pastry Crust)
- 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (35grams ) confectioner’s sugar powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 9 Tablespoons (125grams) unsalted butter(cold or frozen) , cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg yolk
Milk filling
- 2 1/4 ( 496 ml) cups milk
- 2 tablespoon (28grams) butter
- 2 tablespoons (20 grams) flour
- 3-4 tablespoons (23- 30grams) cornstarch
- 1/2 cup (100grams) sugar
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg or replace with cinnamon
Instructions
Pastry Crust
- Butter or spray a 9-inch pie pan with a removable bottom – making sure it is has been adequately sprayed. Set aside
- Place flour, salt and sugar in a food processor pulse for a couple of times to mix ingredients.
- Throw in butter and pulse until rough dough forms.
- Then add egg yolk - pulse until the dough barely comes.
- Remove dough place on a work surface - knead just enough to incorporate all the dough. Working the dough as little as possible.
- Do not overwork the dough; otherwise it’ll be too tough. When it’s ready, the dough will be barely moistened and come together into a ball.
- Lightly press the dough on the prepare pie pan – working from the center up until the bottom and sides are fully covered with pastry – again be very gentle when pressing the dough onto the pie pan.
- Place pie pan in the freezer and freeze for at least 30 minutes or more this helps prevent the dough from rising- if you are in a rush brick, then bake with beans to prevent rising.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven
- Bake crust for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is dry and golden browned. Set aside
Milk Filling
- Place saucepan over medium heat, add butter, nutmeg and milk -bring to a boil and remove from the heat.
- In another bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla and almond extract- whisk in eggs until smooth. Gently whisk into the saucepan making sure there are no lumps
- Now return the pan back on the stove – keep stirring constantly until in starts to bubble.
- Cook for about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and pour mixture into the baked pastry shell Sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill until ready to be served.
Tips & Notes:
- You can make the crust ahead of time, bake and leave out until ready to be use.
- Use store bought pastry pie if you are press for time
- Switch up the flavors, I used nutmeg and cinnamon- just love the flavor combination
- A lot of recipes call for throwing in cinnamon stick so it infuses the milk mixture – if you have some handy by all means use it, if not just use cinnamon spice.
Nutrition Information:
Ellie says
Hi,
What a lovely site. The recipe looks promising.
Any chance you know how many grams – are the equel – of the 9 TBLS noted in your recipe ?
ImmaculateBites says
Hi,
It’s about 125 grams. Thanks.
Ellie says
Thank you!
BTW, The tart turned out fabulous! ! My dad said it reminded him of sweet childhood memeorie 🙂
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with me.
Happy Holidays to you and your family!!!
Alicia says
Thank you for this great recipe!
ImmaculateBites says
Glad you liked it.
Liezel Boonzaier-Lacquaye says
im going to make this in Belgium for husband and his family. but im lost at the butter for the crust… is it 9 tablespoons or 1 stick (what size? ) 1 tablespoon and 9 tablespoons… please advise. cant wait to make this…♡
ImmaculateBites says
Sorry about the confusion, it’s 9 Tablespoons butter.
Liezel Boonzaier-Lacquaye says
As a South-African knowing a good milk tart, this one passes 100%. However, we dont add Nutmeg to the milk mixture in SA. I made it according to your recipe and the nutmeg was very overpowering in the milk mixture. So i would suggest that if you love it, add it but the original way is no nutmeg inside and only cinnamon on top. But other than that, lovely tart, great crumbly base
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!
Antonio Teixeira says
Love your website
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Antonio! Thanks for letting me know!
Anisa says
Wow Firstly!!
Please let me know if the custard fllling sets almost jello ish or liquidy. I prefer a more wobbly jello like finish and not runny custatd ,,, thank you in advance❤️
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Anisa! I think this would be perfect for you jello ish and wobbly .
Lynda says
Thanks for a super easy recipe!
Mary says
Thanks for sharing. I was googling for milk tart recipes and I’m glad I clicked on your site. I do have a suggestion though. I think you should highlight the “Milk Filling” line same as the crust ingredients. I got confused how there was so much pastry crust ingredients. But still, you write really well and the photos are great also. Thank you.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Mary. Will do now.
Sophia says
Hey,
just wanted to tell you that I baked your Milk Tart and it was DELICIOUS!
Everything went good and the steps were really easy to follow.
Thank you for sharing!
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Glad it worked out well for you.
... says
These look delicious. I like your desserts. I have an event where I can sell some of these desserts there. Hope they like them!
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks. They sure would.
Janine says
I cant get my hands on corn starch or custard powder. Can I substitute the corn starch with potato starch?
ImmaculateBites says
You sure can.
Erin says
You can use corn flour…… and you can buy both cornstarch and custard powder on Amazon.Com
Susi V says
Cornstarch is just plain old Maizena – I imagine you can get that anywhere? I think in some places it would be called “cornflour” which may be the source of the confusion.
Leigh says
This is my go to recipe for milktart but without the almond extract! Thank you so much for a great recipe!
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Glad to hear this.
Sophia says
Looks REALLY good, will definitely try it out! But one question: Is the tart still good the next day?
ImmaculateBites says
It sure is Sophia! Make sure you cover it to keep it fresh.
Carmen Byrt says
Can you freeze this milk tart after its been baked?
ImmaculateBites says
Carmen.I have never tried freezing it, so I can’t say for sure.Will definitely try freezing when I make it next time.
Stephen says
It does not thaw well – milktart never really does. The liquids make crystals when you freeze it and then there is some separation when they thaw again, because it doesn’t all thaw at the same speed. It becomes clumpy with some runny bits. I would rather eat it fresh and then make some more when you need it.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Jessica.
Jessica @ Jessica in the Kitchen says
This tart looks amazing! Oh I’d love a bite out of that right about now.
Naa says
Dear Imma, i am drooling,for the oddest reason, this reminds me of snickerdoodles and gooey butter cake …….all because of the cinnamon on topping.
ImmaculateBites says
Naa, you are going to go crazy once you take a bite. I almost finished eating the filling before pouring it into the pastry shell.
Arisa says
This looks sooooooo good!!!! (: G-d bless, Sis:)
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Arisa.
Nagi@RecipeTin Eats says
I’m so amazed that the milk filling sets like that! I never would have guessed that from reading the ingredients. It’s giving me all sorts of ideas for other things I could use the filling for (because I have a fear of making my own pastries)! Pinning, thanks for sharing this Imma!!
ImmaculateBites says
Nagi, thanks for pinning.I can’t wait to see what you make out of this.