South African Peppermint Crisp Tart or Koeksisters?

[franch]

I'm booking S African caterers for a summer BBQ party and they offer some great-sounding puddings. I thought probably koeksisters as they sound like you can eat them casually without plates and crockery, but the peppermint crisp tart does sound delicious ...

Any recommendations, as I've never tried either?

Koeksisters are fried plaited pastry dipped in sticky syrup - very yummy!! No plates needed but lots of napkins to wipe the stickiness away..

Peppermint crisps are great if you like foods that taste like toothpaste ... bleuughh

No to koeksisters - they are really greasy and far far too sweet.

Oh no! Between you, you've vetoed both my choices!!

Cape gooseberry tart then maybe?

Here are the choices:

Peppermint Crisp Tart
A Peppermint Crisp Tart is an incredibly rich, flavorsome, and refreshing tart, bad for strict diets, but well-loved by generations of South Africans. The secret is in the mixed flavors of coconut, peppermint, caramel, and chocolate that makes this sinful dessert.

Cape Gooseberry Tart
A "Fresh" tasting tart made from the Cape Gooseberry (physalis).

Summer Fruit Salad with cream
A colorful and delicious mix of seasonal summer fruits prepared fresh on site and served with cream.

Cheese platter and assortment of biscuits
A Selection of Mild, Medium and Strong cheeses accompanied with an assortment of salty biscuits.

Cape Malay "Koeksisters"
A syrup-coated doughnut in a twisted/braided shape. It is prepared by deep-frying dough, then dipping the fried dough into a cold sugar-syrup. Best eaten cold, koeksisters are very sticky and sweet and taste like honey.

Traditional Cinnamon "Melk Tert"
A sweet pastry crust containing a creamy filling made from milk, flour, sugar and eggs. The ratio of milk to egg is higher than in a traditional European custard tart or Chinese egg tart, resulting in a lighter texture and a stronger milk flavor.

Amarula Creamy Cheese Cake
A Fridge Cheese Cake zeffed up with some Amarula liqueur.

Now if there was milktart on the list ... mmmmmmm

X posts!!

Oh dear fleshwound - I just can't say that sounds appealing to me ...

I quite like peppermint crisp tart, it's nice if they put enough coconut in - or the amarula cheesecake although I can see that would be a bit dull. The melktart is pretty much like custard tart actually.

Mm, I just can't get excited about a custard tart. Well at least that's one vote for peppermint crisp tart ...

melktert is revolting. pepermint crisp tart though is mmm.

recipe:

double cream, caromalized condensed milk, nice biscuits, pepermint crisp chocolate. Line a square dish (lassagne dish or similar) with the biscuits. In a bowl whip the cream until soft peaks, then beat in the caromel. Spoon mixture over the biscuits. Grate the pepermint crisp and sprinkle over the tart. Refrigerate...

Actually fleshwound did vote for koeksisters too, so I'm still none the wiser ...

Thanks bfg so that's 2 for peppermint crisp tart ...

"Melk Tert" is my favourite pudding in the world ever but I can see that it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

"Koeksisters" are also pretty high up my list but are probably the least health food ever made. You have to have a seriously sweet tooth to like them.

I'm not a huge fan of the peppermint thing.
the rest are all safer options but less interesing iykwim.

Yes, I agree about the safer-but-less-interesting thing, muddle.

Looks like 2 votes for each ....

I'm leaning towards koeksisters despite owlingate's warnings ...

Koeksisters is definitely a good choice - have you ever had those bowtie desserts in chinese shops? They're vaguelly similar. They are very sweet, but delicious. In affect, they're like a chewier donut (sounds awful, but isn't).

if you like very rich desserts the peppermint tart is the way to go. I don't like very rich desserts so am not a fan but everyone else I know loves them.

Milk tart is an acquired taste IMO. And tends to be loved by men more than women.

The cape gooseberry tart is also very traditional and delicious.

Also, I see thy refer to cape malay koeksisters, which is slightly wrong - as far a I know, the cape malay version are more muffin like. I could be wrong though but DH's aunt makes cape malay versions that while still super delicious, are not the same in that they're not twisted and they're soaked in less syrup.

In all honesty, I lived in SA for 24 years and I have never heard of peppermint crisp tart ...

Thanks Bling. I should really offer more than one dessert but if I do that it'll cost me £200 extra

Can't please everyone but I think the koeksisters look like the best bet.

That's funny, fleshwound - I googled it and got loads of references like this: "This is one of South Africa?s most popular ?sweets? served in coffee shops, restaurants and homes throughout South Africa. You?ll never go to a home industry (tuisnywerheid) and not find Peppermint Tart, unless it is sold out."

btw

the "bowtie desserts in chinese shops" that bling mentioned - am I going mad to think that I've only ever seen those in SA?

You don't mean fortune cookies do you muddle?

Possibly - I have only seen them in SA too (the bow tie things)!

Fleshwould - did you have kids while living there? I always think of peppermint crisp dessert (normally called Transkei Mud) as being something at kids parties, camps etc.

no not fortune cookies - they are in the shape of bow ties

transkei mud - it is all coming back now...

Shall we start a SA reminiscences thread...

Oh, please do. I so often feel alone on here...! Are there more of us?!?

God, I loved bow ties - I don't really eat in chinese shops anymore so never noticed they were south african. makes sense - a version of koek sisters for the chinese market. But lighter than koeksisters.

I used to always have some from my favourite chinese shop in cape town when I was home! Haven't done that in years.

How do you pronounce koeksisters? Is the first syllable a bit like Kirk Douglas's first name, said with a standard English accent-?