If you love biscuits, cakes and other sweet treats, don’t worry, you can still enjoy it on a vegan diet.
We have seen goodies like muffins, brownies and even pancakes veganised, but did you know you could do the same with the golden child of South African puddings, the milk tart or melktert?
Chef Johke Steenkamp is the proud owner of Grumpy & Runt, a deli specialising in baked vegan sweet treats in Cape Town. She shares her vegan take on our classic milk tart.
No milk, no egg, no fuss. A cinnamon pastry cream is poured into a crunchy and buttery crust, and equally yummy biscuits are layered in a simple pattern on top for some extra flair.
Even non-vegans can enjoy this one!
ALSO READ: Chef Johke takes vegan food to another level
Get the Mzansi Flavour newsletter: A weekly serving of craveable recipes and handy lifestyle tips.
Ingredients
- 1 3⁄4 cups cake flour
- 1⁄4 cup almond flour
- 1 tbsp ground flax seed
- 1⁄4 tsp salt
- 1⁄2 cup plus 2 tbsp vegan butter (from a hard block if you can find one)
- 1⁄4 cup cold water
- 3 cups coconut cream
- 1 cup oat milk
- 1⁄2 cup plus 2 tbsp, plus 2 tsp caster sugar
- 1⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1⁄2 cup cornstarch
- Extra ground cinnamon for dusting
Instructions
For the crust:
- Sift the cake flour and salt together.
- Add the almond flour and ground flax seed and mix well with a whisk.
- Cut the butter into little blocks and add to the flour mix.
- Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour. Try not to overwork the dough. The butter should remain firm. It helps to rinse your hands with cold water before and to lightly toss the mix together to avoid adding too much heat.
- Pour the cold water over the crumby mix.
- Use your hands to toss together again and to gently start kneading the dough into a ball.
-
Using your hands, spread the dough evenly in a tart pan. The preferred thickness is 3 – 4mm. I used a 22mm diameter pan which is quite small and used the leftover dough to make cookies for garnish. I allowed for excess to comfortably cover a larger pan.
-
Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom of the crust. This will allow for air to escape and avoid the crust from ballooning in the centre.
-
Bake at 180°C until the edges turn golden brown.
-
Remove from oven and set aside to cool while cooking the filling.
-
Chef’s note: If you choose to make cookies for garnish with the remaining dough, the baking time will be shorter, between five – 10 minutes, depending on your cooking size. Remove from the oven when the edges have turned golden brown. The cookies are not sweet and pair well with milktart but I would recommend serving them by themselves too.
-
For the filling:
- Add all the filling ingredients to a blender and blend well until everything is mixed thoroughly, then add to a pot.
- Make sure your pot is big enough to allow for whisking without spillage. If you do not have a blender that is no problem, simply add all the filling ingredients and whisk very well.
- Transfer the pot to the stove and cook on high heat, whisking the whole time.
- As the mix starts boiling it will thicken up.
- Once the mix is nice and thick, remove from the heat and pour into your tart crust.
- Do not let the mix run over the edge. It’s best to leave a little bit of the crust exposed along the edges to keep the filling neatly inside.
- Give the tart pan a light jiggle on the counter to level the surface of the tart.
- While the filling is still hot, dust with cinnamon sugar and decorate with cookies if you made some.
- Leave the tart outside to cool.
- Once cooled, transfer to the fridge.
- Best served a few hours after making when the tart is fully cooled and set.
