Name: Mattentaart
Yield: Makes 6 pies (see photograph)
Cuisine: Belgian
Ingredients: 250 g (9 oz) caster (superfine) sugar; 130 ml (4 fl oz) chilled water; 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) curd cheese; 4 eggs, separated; or use 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) ready-made all-butter puff pastry; 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash; ½ teaspoon sea salt; 1 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch); 240 g (8½ oz) unsalted butter, cut into cubes no larger than 1 cm (⅜ inch) and frozen for 30 minutes; 75 g (2¾ oz) fine almond flour; 3 litres (105 fl oz) fresh full-fat milk; 240 g (8½ oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting; 1 litre (35 fl oz) buttermilk; ½ teaspoon baking powder

Preparation info

Makes
6
pies (see )

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Dark Rye and Honey Cake

By Regula Ysewijn

Published 2023

About

The mattentaart is a cheese curd pie that is connected to the town of Geraardsbergen in East Flanders. The town is also famous for its krakelingenfeest.

The meaning of the ‘mat’ in mattentaart is explained in the 14th-century colloquium De Bouc vanden Ambachten, a manuscript written in conversational style in both Middle French and Middle Dutch and thus acting as an exercise book to learn the language. Phrases in the book expl