This Christmas I wanted to make something more substantial than small festive mince pies. A 23cm mince tart was an obvious answer.

I wanted my first version to be gluten free as I have several friends who are gluten intolerant. But they’re definitely not alcohol intolerant, so whisky featured in the ingredients. I also opted for a lattice top.

The second version was to be shared after our church meeting, which includes lots of children, so orange juice replaced the whisky and I fancied stars this time rather than a lattice.

So, all in all, you have a quite a few options. Read on and take your pick. Both tasted really good.

Makes: 12 – 15 slices

Level: Quite easy

Time: 10 minutes the night before baking. About 2 hours on the day, but that includes baking and cooling

Tin: 23cm tart tin, deep and loose-bottomed

Version 1 (GF + alcohol + lattice top)

Pastry Ingredients

400g GF plain flour (I use Doves Farm or Sainsbury’s Freefrom.)
1 tsp xanthan gum powder
pinch of salt
2 – 3 tsp ground cinnamon or ginger or other “Christmassy” spices
75g icing sugar
250g unsalted butter (cold & cubed)
Splash of lemon juice (approx. 10ml)
Small amount of cold water**

* This makes more than enough, but I wouldn’t recommend halving the ingredients, unless you don’t want to make a lattice top.

** For a richer pastry you could replace the water with a little beaten egg, but you probably won’t need a whole egg – maybe save the rest for glazing later.

Ingredients for the filling

Aim for around 800g of filling in total (A little extra for Christmas won’t hurt) Here’s what I used:
The day before baking I put 200g of dried mixed fruit (sultanas, raisins, currants and peel) in a bowl and added 50ml of warm blended whisky (don’t use single malt – keep that for drinking). Leave it overnight to infuse.
The next day, add in the contents of a 410g jar of ready-made mincemeat then make up the weight with any combination of the following:
dried cranberries
dried apricots, chopped
glace cherries, halved or quartered
I haven’t used dates, figs or prunes but they’re probably OK if chopped
flaked almonds or other nuts of your choice (optional)
2 – 4 tsp of ground Christmassy spices (ginger, cinnamon, all-spice, nutmeg, mixed spice, mace etcetera) Add to taste.
Some ground almonds – especially useful if the mixture is very runny.
If the mixture seems really dry splash in a little more whisky
If you intend adding a marzipan layer then you will need some marzipan – probably about 100g, depending how thick you want it. I actually made my own, having discovered there was none in the cupboard. It’s dead easy, I’ll put some details below.

Method

1. For the pastry, first lay out a large sheet of cling film. Now put the flour, xanthan gum powder, salt, spices and icing sugar in a food processor. Pulse a few times just to mix it all. (You can do it by hand in a bowl if you prefer.)

2. Add the cold butter and pulse some more then add the lemon juice and a little of the water. If necessary add a little more water just to bring it all together. (As it’s gluten free flour there’s no worry about overworking it.)

3. Turn out onto the cling film. Wrap it and shape into a disc. Place in the fridge for about half an hour. (As it’s gluten free flour, resting in the fridge is not vital, so feel free to simply press on.)

4. If you haven’t already done so, mix all the mincemeat ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined.

5. Heat the oven to 200°C / fan 180°C / 400°F / gas 6. Roll out three quarters of the pastry on a lightly floured surface (GF flour, of course) to a rough circle about 5mm thick and just larger than the tin. Transfer the pastry to the tin, then ease it into the edges. (Again, you can chill for 30 minutes or just carry on without.)

6. Trim the overhang with a sharp knife or scissors, then wrap the trimmings and set aside until later.

7. Line the pastry case with baking paper or cling film and baking beans/rice and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the baking paper and beans/rice, then return the pastry case to the oven for 5 – 7 minutes or until light golden. Set aside to cool.

8. (Optional – but really nice, so I definitely recommend this bit.) Roll out the marzipan and carefully fit it into the cooled baked pastry case. Now add the mincemeat mixture and press it down firmly. Don’t worry if you have a lot, a slightly domed centre will be good.

9. To make a decorative lattice, roll out the reserved pastry into a circle roughly 23cm in diameter. Cut strips. (A pizza wheel works well for this.) Take alternate strips from the circle and place on the mince mixture working from the middle outwards. When you’ve covered one direction, lift every other strip and begin laying strips at right angles. Repeat until the top is nicely latticed. (Sorry if I haven’t explained this very well. Have a look on You Tube.)

10. Beat an egg and brush it on all the visible pastry. Now bake the tart for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

11. Cool in the tin on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool completely. While it’s cooling you could brush the pastry with slightly diluted warm apricot jam. Before serving, you can dust it with icing sugar.

The Marzipan

I nearly forgot to tell you about the marzipan. When I realised I didn’t have any I googled some recipes and the first three were all quite different and all for large amounts. In a bit of a flap I just chucked in what I thought would work – and it did. I’m sorry if the measurements are a bit vague, but here’s what I think I did.

1. Mix together caster sugar (100g – 125g), Icing sugar (same amount) and ground almonds (200g – 250g i.e. same amount as the combined sugars)

2. Stir in a beaten egg and a small amount of almond extract – about ¼ tsp. Mix it all together – job done. Ridiculously easy – why buy any? (My method seems so much shorter than those I found via Google. Maybe I’ve missed out a few things, but it still tastes really nice.)

Gallery 1 (Version 1)

Version 2 (with gluten + orange juice + stars for decoration)

Pastry

As above in principle, but I used “normal” flour and no xanthan gum powder. I may also have reduced the amounts pro rata to about 75%. The method was the same, except this time frequent chilling and resting were very necessary.

The filling

Virtually the same as the first version except I left out the whisky and used orange juice to macerate the fruit and added the zest into the mixture. I also stirred in 100g of chopped nuts after the fruit had macerated overnight.

The main difference was the topping. As you’ll see in the photos below, I used several different sized star cutters. I then had two choices for their arrangement: random or a more formal pattern. I decided on the latter. I put the bigger ones on first then fitted smaller ones around them.

One thing I got slightly wrong was that I cut some of the stars a little too thick. It wasn’t a massive problem, but equally thin stars are better because the main “body” of the tart doesn’t need a lot of baking.

Gallery 2 (version 2)

Gallery 3 (version 2)

I hope you enjoy this lovely tart. If you want to see more similar recipes click here. Or have a look at my site for lots of other recipes, sweet and savoury. If you’d like to comment or ask a question that would be great, just go to the contact page. Click here the home page.

Here are some more of my Christmas bakes, all recipes available via Ian’s Christmas Collection.