MILK TART WITH APPLES

Oh dear.  I am so sorry if you can't get your hands on Ina Paarman's products, she does export, so look into that if you feel the need.

WOW what a delicious dessert.  Nothing else to say really.  Serves 6-8.

Milk Tart
2 cups (500 ml) fresh full cream milk
1 stick of cinnamon, broken up into long splinters
4 T (60 ml) butter
3 extra large eggs, separated
150 g (200 ml) Ina Paarman’s Vanilla Cake Mix
1 ½ t (7.5 ml) almond essence**

** I found this too much.  Next time will use 1 teaspoon only.

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
3 T (45 ml) sugar
1 t (5 ml) ground cinnamon

Apple Base
4 – 5 Pink Lady or Golden Delicious apples, peeled and cut into small wedges
½ cup (125 ml) apple juice

Method
To give this crustless milk tart flavour and body we have incorporated some of our dry Vanilla Cake Mix. Fold over the foil pack and seal with a peg. Refrigerate the remaining dry mix because you are bound to use this recipe again and again!

Bring the milk and broken cinnamon just to the boil.

Cover, remove from the heat, leave to draw for 20 minutes and add the butter. Cook the apples in apple juice for about 15 minutes. Dish it into a buttered deep 22 cm or regular 24 cm pie dish and leave to cool. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle 1 T of the cinnamon sugar over the apples.

Adjust the oven rack to one slot below the middle position. Preheat oven to 180´C.

Remove the cinnamon pieces from the milk. Separate the eggs. Add a little of the warm milk to the yolks while beating with a balloon whisk. Return egg mixture to the pot and then beat in the Vanilla Cake Mix. Add almond essence. Keep stirring over medium heat with a wire whisk just until the mixture starts to thicken on the bottom of the pot, immediately remove it from the heat and keep stirring, away from any heat, until the consistency is like a thickish yoghurt. It may form lumps, but just keep beating with whisk away from the heat. Leave to cool slightly.

Whip the egg whites to soft peak stage. Add 1/3 of the beaten whites to the milk tart mixture and stir through with the whisk. Add the remaining egg whites and gently fold in.

Dish into the pie dish on top of the cooked apples. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar evenly over the milk tart. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until puffy. Switch off the oven (leave the door slightly ajar) and leave tart to stand in the oven to cool for 15 minutes. This milk tart is easier to slice at room temperature

Variation:
If you want to bake the milk tart without the apple (it makes a lovely crustless milk tart) you must use a slightly smaller, 22 cm pie dish. It can be baked for the same length of time.