SweetNina Beckers

Thyme & Cinnamon-Infused Milk Custard Pie

SweetNina Beckers
Thyme & Cinnamon-Infused Milk Custard Pie

The Milk custard pie is very popular in South-Africa. They call it ‘Melktert’. The original recipe is a custard with milk, eggs and a very generous dusting of cinnamon on top. I infused the milk with thyme and cinnamon, but you can go wild with the infusions. Think about citrus flavours, lavender, rosemary, or even bay leaf. 

The texture of the filling is soft and silky. Combined with the salty-crunchy crust, this is a match you must try out. 

Lots of chance all the ingredients for this milk tart are right in your pantry. So, no extra shopping needed!

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Ingredients :

Filling

  • 700 ml of milk (I used oat-milk)

  • 20 g butter

  • 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk

  • 50 g of sugar

  • 25 g of plain flour

  • 30 g corn starch

  • 2 tablespoons of good quality maple syrup

  • 1 stick of cinnamon

  • 3-4 small branches of thyme

  • pinch of salt

  • cinnamon for dusting

Crust

  • 200 g of shortbread cookies (I used ‘Degestive’)

  • 30 g of toasted shredded coconut

  • 80 g of melted butter

  • pinch of salt

  • 1 tablespoon of good quality maple syrup

Optional: pomegranate seeds for decorating

Extra: 24-cm pie tin (cartel) with removable bottom

Directions:

1.    First infuse your milk. Poor the milk in a sauce pan. Add the cinnamon stick, butter and thyme. Heat this very gently on a low heat. Let this infuse for minimum 30 min. Remove the stick & thyme after 30-40 min.

2.    For the crust mix the cookies till fine. Add the toasted coconut, melted butter, salt and maple syrup. Mix everything together and divide on the bottom of a 24-cm pie-tin (don’t forget the edges!). Press very firm into the pie. Set aside in the fridge.

3.    Now start the filling. Combine the sugar, eggs, flour, corn starch & salt in a large bowl.

4.    Poor -while whisking- a bit of the warm milk over the mixture to temper the eggs. Then transfer everything to the saucepan.

5.    Turn on the heat to cook and constantly whisk until the custard starts to thicken. Keep on whisking until the custard is smooth and thick. Add the maple syrup.

6.    Let this cool down for 20 minutes.

7.    Pour the mixture over the crust of the pie and dust with some cinnamon. Tear a few small leaves of the thyme and divide over the top. Finish with some pomegranate seeds.

8.    Let the pie cool down for at least 4 hours before cutting. But ideally overnight.