Mincemeat tart with Frangipane

5 from 6 votes

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.

Prep Time30

Cook Time45

Total Time1 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 423kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Ingredients

For the Pastry

200 g Plain flour all-purpose
85 g icing sugar
⅛ teaspoon Salt
150 g Butter unsalted, well chilled
1 Egg yolk large, free range
1-2 tablespoon Iced water

Fillings

100 g Golden caster sugar
100 g Butter unsalted, softened
2 Eggs large, free range
100 g Ground almonds
4 tablespoon Mincemeat
12 Blanched Almonds

Instructions

Make the Pastry

Put the flour and salt into a medium-sized bowl and sieve in the icing sugar. Cube the butter, then add to the bowl. Toss together briefly using your hands then use your fingertips to rub the butter into the other ingredients until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs
Tip the egg yolk into the bowl along with 1 tablespoon of ice-cold water. Use a blunt knife to chop and mix the dough until it comes together. Add a little more water only if absolutely necessary. The dough should easily come together to form a soft ball. Adding too much water will make the dough sticky and difficult to handle
Turn onto a lightly floured worktop and knead gently and briefly until it is smooth. Flatten the dough slightly, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes

Roll out and Blind Bake

Once chilled, flour a work surface and roll the pastry out to around 2mm thickness and use to line your tart tin. Use a sharp knife to trim (or knock off) any pastry that overhangs the tin and use the off-cuts to patch up any tears in the pastry if necessary
Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes – to help the dough firm up again. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ GM 4 and put a baking sheet in while it warms up
When the pastry has chilled, remove the cover and prick the base all over with a fork, then line with a piece of baking parchment large enough to cover the base and sides of the tin. Scrunch it up, then unroll it – this makes it easier to lay inside of the tin. Fit the parchment in the tin and fill with baking beans, spreading them out to ensure they cover the entire base
Put the tart tin onto the heated baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and parchment (careful – they will be hot) and bake for a further 5 minutes, then take out of the oven and set aside

Make the Frangipane

In a medium bowl cream the softened butter with the sugar using electric beaters
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition
Mix in the ground almonds

Assemble the tart

Spread the mincemeat over the base of the tart and top with the frangipane, taking care to push the mix to the very edge of the tart to stop the mincemeat from bubbling up around the edge of the tart
Arrange the blanched almonds around the edge of the tart
Bake for 20-25 minutes (again on the hot baking sheet) until the topping is golden and well risen
Let cool and dust with icing sugar before serving

Notes

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

Nutrition