Date-sweetened milk tart with macadamia nut butter

A naturally sweetened twist on a South African favourite, made with dates and macadamia nut butter

Makes 12

Easy

40 minutes + 30 minutes chilling time

10 min

RECIPE DEVELOPED BY:

Jean-Lee Matthee - ICA third year student specialising in New Product Development

STYLING & PHOTOGRAPHY:

Asia Nikiforakis - ICA third year student specialising in Media Communication

WINE PAIRING:

PASTRY

250ml (1 cup / 125g) cake flour, sieved

60ml (¼ cup / 60g) butter, diced

½ large egg, beaten

30ml (2 tbsp / 40g) So Natural Bluegum honey

DATE PASTE

330ml (1⅓ cup / 325g) milk

200g So Natural Medjool Dates, pitted

125ml (½ cup / 125g) So Natural Pomegranate Juice

15ml (1 tbsp / 15g) lemon juice

30ml (2 tbsp / 30g) So Natural Roasted Macadamia Nut Butter

30ml (2 tbsp / 40g) So Natural Bluegum honey

MILK TART FILLING

37.5ml (2.5 tbsp / 20g) cake flour, sieved

30ml (2 tbsp / 15g) corn flour, sieved

pinch of salt

30ml (1 tbsp / 30g) So Natural Roasted Macadamia Nut Butter

1 large egg yolk

35ml (2½ tbsp / 50g) So Natural Bluegum honey

5ml (1 tsp / 5g) vanilla essence

5ml (1 tsp / 2g) ground ginger

10ml (1 tsp / 2g) ground cinnamon

5ml (1 tsp / 2g) ground nutmeg

5ml (1 tsp / 5g) butter

TO SERVE

15ml (1 tbsp / 8g) ground cinnamon, for dusting

For the pastry, process the flour and cold butter in a food processor on medium speed until fine crumbs form, 30–60 seconds.
Add the beaten egg and honey and process on low speed until just combined.
Shape the dough into a flat disc, wrap and refrigerate, 20 minutes.
Roll the dough to a 3mm thickness. Line 10 cm diameter tart tins with the pastry, press it into the corners, trim the excess and prick the base with a fork. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Blind-bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
For the date paste, place the milk and So Natural Medjool Dates in a saucepan and heat to 80°C. Do not boil. Remove from heat and allow to infuse for 10 minutes.
Remove the dates with a slotted spoon and reserve the milk for the filling.
Blend the softened dates, So Natural Pomegranate Juice, lemon juice, So Natural Roasted Macadamia Nut Butter and So Natural Bluegum honey until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.
For the milk tart filling, combine the cake flour, corn flour, salt and 100ml of milk reserved from soaking the dates and whisk until smooth.
Add the So Natural Roasted Macadamia Nut Butter, egg yolk, honey, vanilla essence, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg to the flour mixture.
Heat the remaining milk to a scalding point.
Gradually whisk the warm milk into the flour mixture until smooth.
Return to the heat and bring to the boil, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Allow to boil for 30 seconds.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
To assemble, spread 1 tablespoon of date paste into each tart case followed by milk tart filling.
To serve, dust the tarts with ground cinnamon.

TIP: Chill the pastry-lined tins before blind baking to help the tart shells keep their shape.

As part of our annual ICA 3^rd year student specialisation project, ICA collaborated with @so_natural_sa (So Natural), a Stellenbosch-based brand known for its locally sourced nuts, artisan nut butters, raw honey, Medjool dates, pomegranate juice and Kombucha Jun.

Students worked with the So Natural product range to develop creative recipes that highlighted natural ingredients and product versatility.

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