After a jam tart disaster the other day, where the oven shelf was skew and the filling overflowed to make a sticky mess, I was a bit worried about how these would turn out. But they were pretty damn good. So good, in fact, that I had to do multiple taste tests... you know, just to check that they were edible. Aren't I thoughtful?
Makes 24 tarts.
INGREDIENTS:
For the short crust pastry:
280g plain flour
20g icing or caster sugar
150g cold butter, cubed
A few tablespoons of ice cold water
Filling:
410g jar of mincemeat
Frangipane:
150g ground almonds
100g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
25g plain flour
1tsp vanilla extract
zest of a lemon
Decoration:
50g flaked almonds
icing sugar, for dusting
METHOD:
- To make the pastry, put the flour and sugar in a bowl and add the cubed butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in just enough water to bring the mixture together until you have a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for about half an hour.
- When the pastry has rested, roll out on a floured work surface. Use a biscuit cutter (or the top of a glass if you're ill-equipped like me) to stamp out circles, gently pressing the dough into the holes of your tart tin. Chill the pastry cases for about 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180'C. To make the frangipane, whizz together all of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
- Put 1 teaspoon of mincemeat into the bottom of each pastry case, then top with a teaspoon or 2 of the frangipane. Scatter with the flaked almonds, then bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.