Hi! I am aware that it is the first week of January, and we’re all supposed to be eating salads, but er, may I interest you in some mincemeat tarts? December was a heavy month for many reasons, and it didn’t feel right to be celebrating. But we have these recipes that have shot and are ready to go, so I’m just going to leave these here. For you to make when you’ve eaten one too many rocket leaves, or maybe for Valentine’s or, who knows, maybe for a rerun of Christmas in the summertime.
Recipe: Mincemeat Tarts
Ingredients
For the filling
50 g raisins
50 g black currents
50 g glazed cherries, finely chopped
25 g mixed peel, finely chopped
25 g candied dried ginger, chopped
1 cup sugar
25 g butter
2 small peeled green apples, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tsp mixed spice powder (or equal amounts of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, powdered)
For the almond mixture:
2 eggs
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup cream
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ground almonds
60 g unsalted butter, melted
For the pastry
1 1/2 cup flour
75 g cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg, beaten to mix
2-3 tbsp ice water
1 tsp vinegar
Pinch of salt
Method
To make the pastry
Place the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor and using pulse mode, process in short burst until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
Add the egg yolk and water, and process again in short bursts until it is just combined.
Pinch the dough with your fingers, if it holds together, it is ready, or else, add another tablespoon of water and process again.
If you don’t have a food processor, mix the cold butter and flour together with your fingers, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg, the ice water and mix to a shaggy dough. Add 1 more spoon of water if needed.
Flatten the dough into a disk and wrap tightly in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. When ready, flour the surface you’ll be working on, remove the wrapping and roll it out until it is 1/4 inch thick.
To make the filling
Melt the sugar and water in a small pot. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the mixed spice powder, and cook until it thickens and there is almost no liquid left. Set aside to cool. Stir in the mixed spice powder now.
To make the almond mixture:
Lightly beat the eggs and sugar together. Add the cream, ground almonds, melted butter and mix well.
To assemble
Use a cutter that is slightly larger than your tart mould to cut the dough (Refer to the pictures!). Place the dough on your tart moulds. Fill with the mincemeat filling, and add a heaped spoon of the almond mixture and bake in a preheated oven for 180 Celsius for about 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.