Mince Tarts

I was asked to pop this recipe up for my little Christmas Mince Tarts by one of my lovely students. It was the pastry she was really after, but whats a pastry without a delicious filling.

I’ve added a little trick you can use to make shop-bought mince fruit into something that will make them taste a whole lot better.  Trust me. “I’m a Chef”  lol,  I think that’s supposed to be Trust me “I’m a Doctor”, but I’m not one of those. Gosh, I’m tired, making stupid jokes again.  😉

Mince Tarts

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becs-table.com.au

Traditional Mince Tarts. Delicious and easy to make. Get your baking on for Christmas

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Total Time 40 mins

Difficulty Easy

Course Christmas

Cuisine British, Christmas

Servings 24

Method Thermomix and Conventional

Equipment

• Thermomix (optional)

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the pastry

• 375 g plain flour
• 250 g butter softened
• 125 g caster sugar plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 medium free-range egg
• 1 Extra egg and sugar for sprinkling optional

For the filling

• 2 x 400 g jars mincemeat or make your own as we did.
• 2 oranges or tangerines if you can get them zest grated and flesh chopped
• 1 apple finely diced
• Optional you can even throw in a few slivered almonds chopped lightly

Instructions

 

Conventional Method

• To make the sweet pastry, rub the flour, butter, sugar and egg together with a splash of cold water until it just comes together as a dough. Do not overwork the dough. Wrap the pastry in cling film and set aside to chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
• To make the filling, turn the mincemeat out into a bowl, grate the zest of the tangerines into the mincemeat, then peel and chop the fruit. Throw the orange or tangerine and apple pieces into the bowl and blend by hand.
• Roll out the pastry to around 3mm in thickness. With a round pastry cutter, cut out 6 x 9cm discs of pastry. Press the pastry into the muffin cups and fill each one with a Tablespoon or so of mincemeat mixture, so that it reaches three-quarters of the way up the side of the pastry-lined cup. Don’t overfill or your mix will boil up over the edges of your pastry.
• With a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 6 x 8cm/3¼ in pastry circles for the lids. (Slightly bigger than the top of the muffin cups). Use a pastry brush to add a little water or egg wash on the rim of your pie then place the lid on top, gently push down and crimp if you wish. You can also trim the edges with a cutter if you have one the right size for the lid.
• If you like, you can egg wash or milk wash, then sprinkle with sugar at this stage too if you want.
• Rest your tarts in the fridge to help prevent any shrinkage.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C while the pies have their final rest in the fridge, I said that twice cause I want you to do it. LOL, Once the oven is at the right temperature, you can pop them in and reduce oven temperature to 160ºC.
• Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar if you’ve opted to leave the sugar on the top, and you can serve them warm with fresh cream too.

Thermomix method

• Place the flour, sugar and butter into TM bowl and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5.
• Add the remaining ingredients and mix for a further 10 seconds on speed 5.
• Tip the TM contents out onto a sheet of glad wrap. Bring together with your hands then press down to form a flat rectangle. (this makes it easier when you got to roll your pastry out.) Pop it in the fridge to rest. Leave to chill at least 15 mins
• Roll out the pastry to around 3mm in thickness. With a round pastry cutter, cut out 6 x 9cm discs of pastry. Press the pastry into the muffin cups and fill each one with a Tablespoon or so of mincemeat mixture, so that it reaches three-quarters of the way up the side of the pastry-lined cup. Don’t overfill or your mix will boil up over the edges of your pastry.
• With a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 6 x 8cm/3¼ in pastry circles for the lids (slightly bigger than the top of the muffin cups). Use a pastry brush to add a little water or egg wash on the rim of your pie then place the lid on top, gently push down and crimp if you wish. You can also trim the edges with a cutter if you have one the right size for the lid.
• If you like, you can egg wash or milk wash, then sprinkle with sugar at this stage too if you want.
• Rest your tarts in the fridge to help prevent any shrinkage.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C while the pies have their final rest in the fridge, I said that twice cause I want you to do it. LOL, Once the oven is at the right temperature, you can pop them in and reduce oven temperature to 160ºC.
• Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar if you’ve opted to leave the sugar on the top, and you can serve them warm with fresh cream too.

Want to know more?

Here is another great Christmas idea, plum pudding