The 3 South African Desserts You Can Relish On Festivals

South African Desserts
South African Desserts

South Africans celebrate their festivals and grand occasions like weddings and birthdays with great food. If you talk of South African desserts what comes to mind is a variety of cookies called biscuits, pudding, pies and colourful fruit mixes such as grapes, melons, peaches, citrus, and apricots, just to name a few.

Also, they love dried fruit desserts like apricot jam pudding and buttermilk pudding rich with dry fruits which are sweet and have a rich taste coming in various flavours.

South African tarts like the melktert, brandy tart, rum and raisin tart are famous for their varieties. Some other desserts include the date cake, Hertzog cookies, banana caramel pie and brandy squares served with chocolate sauce.

South African Desserts

Here find three of the traditional South African desserts which you can find on almost every occasion and festival in celebration.

1. Melktert

Melkart or Milk Tart is a South African dessert consisting of a sweet pastry crust and a touch of cinnamon sprinkled over it.

Making a Milk Tart at home is easy if you follow the simple steps. Ingredients needed to make Melktert you need milk, margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla extract, cornstarch and cinnamon.

Next, you need to mix the margarine and sugar and stir in the egg. Add the flour and salt, then mould until a soft dough is formed. Press the mixture into a greased pie dish and bake at 350° F for 15 minutes. Boil the milk and margarine.

Mix the sugar, eggs, cornstarch, flour and vanilla extract. Add some of the hot milk to the mixture, and then pour it back into the pot and heat gently until it thickens.

Pour the filling into the pie crust, sprinkle some cinnamon over and cool. Refrigerate. Isn’t it easy?

2. Koeksisters

Koeksister is a South African dessert, similar to doughnuts. They are made in a twist or sometimes braided and then soaked in syrup.

To make Koeksisters you may need syrup sugar water, lemon juice, tartar cream, vanilla essence ginger (optional), salt, dough flour, egg and baking powder

Now make the syrup first. When making the syrup; mix all the ingredients in a cooking pan (except the lemon juice and vanilla essence) and slowly heat.

While heating you have to keep stirring your syrup mix until the sugar has melted.

Once the sugar has melted, leave your syrup mix to boil for about 6 minutes, then mix in the lemon juice and vanilla essence. Leave to cool.

Next mix your flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Slowly add your butter to the mix, then pour in your milk and mould to the dough. Once your dough has been formed, cut them into strips and separate them into groups of two or three. Join each group at one end and begin your braid or twist.

Get your oil slightly heated up and fry your twist until they get golden brown on both sides. Remove the koeksister and dip them into your syrup.

Remove your koeksister from the syrup and let off the excess syrup from the body. Make sure your syrup is cool at all times before a dip. Just awesome.

3. Rusks

Rusks is a popular South African dessert beskuit (cookie) since the 1690s is a snack in between a bread and biscuit. There are various types of rusks, such as orange juice rusks, knitwit bran rusks, buttermilk rusks and lots more.

To make a rusk you need flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and eggs. Then grease your oven tray or baking pan and set your oven to 180°, while your oven is heating up; get your dough ready. Mix your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Slowly add your butter into the mix, then mix in your eggs until the dough is formed. Mould your dough into shapes or place it in a baking pan, and then bake for about an hour. Once ready cool off before bringing the rusks out of the pan, then dry the rusks and store them in a sealed container.

There are various ways to have your rusks when ready. Traditionally rusks were best had with tea or coffee, but in recent times, they are loved and best served with ice cream.

See also – Top 7 Ice Cream Parlors in Cape Town

Prepare these three traditional desserts and enjoy serving them to your friends and guests.

About the author

Kamal Kaur