Must Make Heritage Day Desserts

And finally, for a fitting closure to our 4-part series, here are my Must Make Heritage Day Desserts. From baked and sauced, to no-churn easy ice creams and cheesecake, I hope you find something scandalously decadent to satiate a sweet tooth.

Most of us grew up eating milk tart, made as only our mothers and grandmothers could. When I eventually hang up my apron, I hope my girls will still be talking about this Milk tart cheesecake. From the moment I sliced into its satiny softness, I knew we were in deep trouble.

There are 101 uses for Amasi, this silky no bake chocolate cheesecake being the winning recipe. Maas is similar to buttermilk but slightly more tangy. For the cheesecake recipe I’ve used the same principle of draining excess liquid as making labneh. The resulting curd is voluptuously soft and creamy.

This is what happens when you spend too much time in the kitchen. You start playing with the classics and end up with possibly the best cookie crumble sticky toffee pudding ever. Imagine buttery pecan cookies strewn over a toffee sauce-soaked date pudding. Virtuous, it certainly isn’t. Dessert of your dreams? Absolutely.

Whether you know it as Cape Brandy Pudding or Tipsy Tart, there’s no mistaking the intoxicating vigour of this sticky baked pud. Made with nature’s caramel, Medjool dates, pecans and warming spices, it remains one of my most loved winter puddings. It taste like Sunday lunch at my mother’s – homely, comforting and doused with nostalgia.

Malva pudding must be one of South Africa’s most loved puddings. In a recent survey, it was voted the nation’s favourite baked pud. With a warm milky syrup seeping through the sponge, every spoonful is saturated with sweet nostalgia. This is the pudding I grew up on. With numerous requests for a Malva pudding recipe, I thought it time to share my mother’s recipe, with a few tweaks.

There are no secret recipes in our family. Everything that could be regarded as sacred has been poured into the Cookbook.The recipe for this corruptively decadent Chocolate and Pear Malva Pudding with hazelnut cookie crumble is one of them. It’s our inescapable, sweet-toothed nemesis. It comes with a disclaimer, for obvious reasons! For those who already have a copy of Bibby’s Kitchen, you’ll find it in the Dessert Chapter, page 160, just before the Mandarin Christmas pud with rum caramel.

Most no-churn ice cream recipes start with condensed milk as a base. This one’s no different. Giving it true South African charisma, I’m adding a shot of espresso and lightly crushed muesli rusks. It tastes similar to sweet Thai coffee but with chewy bits of baked buttermilk crumbs.

There are three rules to a successful holiday pudding. It needs to be simple, convincingly sweet and graced with a splurge of excessiveness. I think this Peppermint crisp pudding pie fits the bill effortlessly. It’s a make-ahead dessert that takes no time at all to throw together but will no doubt, rouse delight.

The original recipe calls for Tennis biscuits, a tin of Caramel treat, Peppermint crisp chocolate and a ton of cream. By no means healthy, but lusciously sinful and even easier to make. The creamy texture of my Oreo and Peppermint Crisp ice cream is beguilingly light, so much so, that before you know it, you’re piling a second spoonful into your bowl.

Wishing you all a wonderful Heritage Day filled with gratitude, good food and all the people that make life extraordinary.