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

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