Milk tart pancakes with cinnamon crumble

I've decided to celebrate Heritage month (taken from Heritage Day on the 24 September) by preparing a few traditional South African foods but with a little Katelyn flair! Pancakes (or crepes to the rest of the world) are an integral part of South African culture, particularly famous for being sold at church bazaars or farmer's markets where they come wrapped in wax paper on a paper plate and so steaming-hot that they blister your fingers and melt the cinnamon sugar sprinkled inside. 

It was this traditional sprinkling that gave me the idea to stuff the pancakes with another South African favourite; milk tart. This recipe contains an almost deconstructed milk tart filling; creamy cinnamon-spiked custard and a crunchy, crispy, spicy crumble. Pancakes and milk tart were just meant to be combined and so, I give you, the South African double dessert! 

Milk tart pancakes with cinnamon crumbles

Serves 6

Pancakes

125g cake flour

pinch of salt

2 large eggs

250ml milk

2T melted butter or oil

Milk tart filling

2 cups milk

1 cinnamon stick

80ml cake flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2tsp vanilla

Cinnamon crumbles

1 cup cake flour

2 tsp cinnamon

¼ cup sugar

100g butter, chopped

Cinnamon-sugar, to serve*

Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs and milk and whisk into the dry ingredients with the butter or oil. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Heat a non-stick pan and ladle a small amount of batter into the pan. Swirl the pan around to evenly coat it with batter. When the edges begin to lift, flip over and cook the other side until brown.
To make the filling, heat half the milk with the cinnamon stick until just below boiling point then set aside to infuse.
Whisk the remaining cold milk with the flour and ground cinnamon to form a smooth paste then whisk in the hot milk.
Cook over a medium heat until thick and the flour is cooked out. Flavour with vanilla and remove the cinnamon stick. Set aside (cover the surface with clingwrap to prevent a skin forming).
Make the crumbles by combining the flour, cinnamon and sugar and rubbing in the butter to form large crumbs. Spread on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes, stirring every now and then until golden and crisp. Allow to cool.
Serve the pancakes spread with the milk tart filling, a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar and the crumbles.

*To make the cinnamon sugar, mix 2 tsp ground cinnamon into 1 cup white sugar until combined.

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Blueberry Crumble Bars

These beautiful looking bars stole the show this past week when I made them on Expresso. We were talking all things Indigo, as apparently, this is the hottest hue of the year for walls, decor and fashion. I can't recall blueberries actually ever being 'trendy' but if ever there was a time, now is as good as any. Being the only 'blue' fruit, it had very little competition vying for the spotlight, which is why I gave it a starring role in this recipe. 

The pastry is dead easy to make with just a little rubbing-in required from your fingertips. My grandmother always taught me to leave one hand clean and flour-free when baking incase the telephone rang or someone knocked on the door. And being as stubborn as I am, I never do, which thanks to Mr Murphy means that someone always calls at the exact point my hands touch the flour. Go figure. You could, of course, swop out the fruit for whatever is in season (strawberries, raspberries, peaches, plums etc.) though they won't lend the stunning inky contrast the blueberries do.

Blueberry Crumble Bars

Makes 30

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

3 cups cake flour

large pinch of salt

zest and juice from one lemon

225g butter cold and in cubes

1 egg

4 cups fresh blueberries

½ cup sugar

4 tsp corn flour

Combine the sugar, baking powder and flour with the salt and lemon zest and mix well.

Rub in the butter until the mixture is crumbly then stir in the egg to form a dough.

Divide the dough in half and press one half into a lined baking sheet so it’s about ½cm thick.

Stir together the lemon juice, blueberries, sugar and corn flour and sprinkle this over the dough layer.

Crumble the remaining dough over the berries and bake at 190C for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before slicing into squares.

Dried fruit crumble slice

The pastry for this delicioiusly moreish slice was the very first recipe I ever wrote down. Just as my mother copied it from my grandmother's old, worn recipe book, I copied it from my mother's – and in pencil, because I was too scared I would make a mistake in my brand new recipe book. While transferring the ingredient quantities I remember wondering if the crisp clean pages in mine would ever resemble the splattered and well-thumbed pages of the tomes my mother and grandmother cooked from. After typing out this recipe from my beloved little book, it makes my heart happy to say that it is stained with blobs of butter, the edges of the page are dog-eared and there are a few stray sugar granules resting in the spine. 

 A sign that a recipe book is truly loved.

Photography by Angie Lazaro

Dried fruit crumble slice
(serves 8-10)

450g mixed dried fruit

100g dried fig

1t ground allspice

1t ground cinnamon

100ml brandy

200g castor sugar

pinch salt

Pastry

250g butter

¾ cup castor sugar

1 egg

1t baking powder

2¹/3 cups cake flour

²/3 cup corn flour

Place all the dried fruit and spices in a bowl and add the brandy. Add enough boiling water to cover the fruit and allow to soak overnight in the refrigerator. For the pastry, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg followed by the baking powder, flours and salt. Press ²/3 of the dough into a greased baking dish and refrigerate. Strain the fruit and reserve the liquid. Roughly chop the fruit and set aside. Place the liquid in a saucepan, add the sugar and heat until dissolved and the syrup is light golden brown. Moisten the fruit with a little syrup. Spoon the mixture onto the base and grate the remaining ¹/3 of the dough over the top. Bake at 170°C for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with piping hot custard.