South Africa has produced a number of mouth-watering desserts that the world should know about. A popular favourite, alongside the ever-excellent South African milk tart and malva pudding, is peppermint crisp tart.
A sinfully decadent dessert, this tart’s richness is offset perfectly by the cool mintiness of the peppermint crisp. You might want to invite a few friends over for this one, as you’ll be tempted to eat the whole thing.
What is peppermint crisp?
Peppermint crisp is a chocolate bar that was invented in South Africa in the 1960s. It was eventually bought out by the food giant, Nestlé. It is now generally found in South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.
The chocolate bar has thin crackling cylinders of mintiness enrobed in milk chocolate. It’s popular throughout South Africa and is used in a number of inventive ways. You’ll find it as an ice cream topping in vendors’ vans, as a topping for cupcakes, and in and on top of cheesecakes.
Krispy Kreme and Burger King have even incorporated it into their South African branch’s desserts. In the dessert we’re making today, the crystallized mint sugar is shattered, infusing every delicious bite with its distinct flavour.
What is peppermint tart?
The delicious peppermint crisp isn’t even the best part. Because the rest of this dessert is made up of a coconut biscuit base, whipped cream, and caramel treat. Like we said: it’s rich and decadent.
As this is a South African dessert, it’s also widely known as peppermint tert. Tert is the Afrikaans word for tart, so it translates nice and easily.
If you’re not located in South Africa and cannot find a Nestle peppermint crisp in the international aisle of your favourite grocer, Bubbly aero mint can take its place. It won’t be quite the same, but the pairing of chocolate, mint, cream, caramel and coconut biscuit can truly never fail.
How to make peppermint tart
Having our peppermint crisp tart at a lovely spot in Hout Bay, Cape Town
This is a blissfully easy recipe to make, whether you’re a newbie baker or a seasoned professional. It doesn’t require an oven or any tricky kitchen equipment. All you need is a whisk or electric beater to thicken the cream, and a dish to slide into the fridge.
An important aspect of this dessert is that it is left in the fridge for approximately six hours to set. This allows the cookies to soften and become a well-incorporated part of the dessert, and the crispy peppermint pieces to infuse their flavours throughout. However, if you’re wanting your cookies to be crunchy, one hour will be enough for this delectable dessert.
When making your peppermint crisp tart, you’ll first crumble the cookies. It may be a bit crude, but this can be done by simply putting the packet of cookies into a plastic shopping bag, and stepping on it a bit. You want a pretty fine consistency, without it being a powder.
If your dish fills before you’ve used up the peppermint fridge tart ingredients, you can make a sweet little mini dessert. This can be enjoyed as a private snack, or perhaps given to someone who can’t join the event you’ll be whipping this wonder out at.
Peppermint Crisp Tart Recipe
Peppermint Crisp Tart
Ingredients
- 500 ml heavy cream
- 365 g caramel caramel treat is our favourite
- 1 packet tennis biscuits or any other coconut biscuits
- 150 g peppermint crisp slab or three 49g bars
Instructions
- Whip the cream until peaks form, preferably with an electric mixer. A hand-held whisk can also be used, but it will take considerably longer to beat the cream. I would know, as this is how I’ve made the pudding.
- Fold the caramel into the whipped cream. I prefer not to fold it in perfectly, so you still have some pieces of just caramel.
- In a suitable form - preferably a square or rectangular deep glass dish - layer some crumbled biscuit. 30 x 20cm is ideal.
- Next, spoon over some of the cream and caramel mixture, ensuring that it covers the cookie layer entirely.
- Crumble your peppermint crisp chocolate over the desert.
- Layer more crumbled biscuit over and repeat the whole process until you’re out of all the components.
- Cover your dish with a cloth or a lid and put it into the fridge to set. If you want the biscuits to be crunchy, the dessert can set for about an hour only. If you want the biscuits soft like the rest of the dessert, leave it in the fridge for approximately six hours.
Last words on our peppermint tart recipe
If you’re a fan of easy fridge tart recipes, this one is for you. It’s easy and quick to make and results in one of the most delectable desserts you can imagine. I can’t make it too often because my household doesn’t do too well with dairy. But if I could, this one would be on the menu for every braai, along with roosterkoek.
Wander Cape Town is ad-free and sponsor-free. We’re working to find and pay locals who have been cooking these meals for years to write recipes. And you can help!
