Mincemeat Tart with Frangipane

This Mincemeat tart is really a giant luxury frangipane mince pie designed for sharing. Serve warm or cold for an easy and comforting Christmas dessert.

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It’s not the festive season until I’ve had my first mince pie. This year, I’ve gone one better and come up with the ultimate sharing frangipane mince pie.

This mincemeat tart serves 8-10 people and looks rather splendid when served at the end a sit-down meal.

This suitably comforting winter tart will prove popular throughout the festive season and well into January when you’re perhaps looking for ways to use up the last of your mincemeat supply.

What Makes This Recipe Special?

Quite simply, the combination of sweet, buttery pastry, intensely festive mincemeat and sweet, yet light frangipane topping is enough to win my heart over every time.

This mincemeat tart is really a fancy and very large frangipane mince pie. It’s ideal to bring to the table when a fairly traditional dessert is called for.

It is certainly satisfying to serve it sliced and drizzled with custard, cream or, dare I suggest it(?), clotted cream.

If you wanted to, you could alternatively make a dozen or so individual frangipane mince pies using the recipe detailed here instead.

Ingredients

I’m always surprised that as rich and flavourful as frangipane tart might be, it required very basic ingredients. This mincemeat tart is no exception.

With this recipe, do use proper butter over baking margarine. You will be rewarded with a fuller flavour, both in the pastry and the frangipane topping.

And when it comes to the mincemeat, pick quality. In all honesty, I much prefer homemade mincemeat to store-bought. The flavours just seem more mellow, balanced and a whole lot less sharp than even the luxury brands can manage.

Step By Step Instructions

There are three stages to complete when preparing this mincemeat tart:

1. Make the pastry and blind bake it in the tart case
2. Make the frangipane topping
3. Assemble and bake

None of these stages are too challenging, but here’s a fuller breakdown:

Step 1: Sieve the icing sugar, salt and flour together then rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

Step 2: Add the egg yolk and 2 tablespoon water and stir with a blunt knife until the ingredients start to come together. If the dough feels dry add a drop more water as necessary, but don’t add too much as the dough should be soft but not sticky. Use your hands to press the dough into a ball and knead briefly

Step 3: Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, then roll out to 2-3mm depth and use to line your baking tin. Prick the base, cover and chill again for another 30 minutes, before filling with parchment and baking beans and blind baking. Then let cool.

How to Blind bake: Cook for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and parchment and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes. It helps if you put a baking sheet into the oven to warm up and then put your tart tin onto this. The extra heat on the base helps kickstart the cooking.

Step 4: To make the frangipane filling, firstly cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs, one at a time and finally beat in the ground almonds

Step 5: Spread the mincemeat over the base of the tart case and top with the frangipane. Use a blunt knife to push it to the edge of the pastry case to minimise any mincemeat bubbling up. Finally, decorate with 12-16 almonds and bake until golden and set

Either let it cool completely, or enjoy this large frangipane mince pie warm. Either way, dust with a little icing sugar just before serving.

Tips and FAQS

Expert Tips

There are just a handful of tips for me to share for this mincemeat tart:

• Use a loose-bottomed tart tin – it will be so much easier to remove and serve on a plate
• The tin for this mincemeat tart with frangipane needs to be 2-3cm in depth. Avoid using a tin that is too shallow
• When making the pastry, work with cold ingredients – it’s the best way to ensure premium results. Pastry that is too warm does not bake as well as pastry that is kept sufficiently cold.
• Don’t skip the chilling of the dough or the blind baking. Both are crucial to achieve crisp pastry and avoid that notorious soggy bottom
• I find that popping a baking sheet into the oven whilst it is heating up and then sitting the tart tin directly onto the hot baking sheet helps reduce the chance of a soggy bottom
• Don’t overfill your tart case – the frangipane will puff up during baking, and overflow if you try cramming too much in. I recommend using an 8-inch case for the ingredients listed here

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Wintery Desserts to Consider

Take a look at these alternative treats to grace your winter dessert table:

• Almond Frangipane Tart with Blackberries – a not quite so festive take on the frangipane tart
• Apple Pie with Cinnamon – enduringly popular
• Stovetop Rice Pudding with Blood Oranges in Caramel – this is pure comfort food that is easy to make and feeds a crowd
• Nutty Chocolate Pear Crumble – a step up from classic fruit crumble
• Individual Baked Alaskas with Panettone & Mincemeat – another great recipe for using up Christmas leftovers

Have you made my mincemeat tart with frangipane? Did you know commenting and rating recipes is one of the best ways you can support your favourite food bloggers? Let me know what you thought of this recipe in the comments below and don’t forget to show me a picture of it on Instagram – use #littlesugarsnaps and tag me @jane_littlesugarsnaps.

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