One of the best things about the festive season is getting to dig into delicious treats, from classic pavlova to chocolate-coated almonds and boozy rum balls. While every family has their favourites, one item that makes the cut in most Aussie households is delicious fruit mince tarts.

The traditional Christmas treats usually consist of a sweet pastry, topped with a deliciously fruity filling – but many like to put their own twist on the recipe with some secret ingredients.

If you’re wanting to try a different recipe this year, Maggie Beer‘s fruit mince tartlets should definitely be at the top of your list. It’s best to start the cooking process the day before you want to serve them to let the flavours develop, and we can assure you, you won’t be disappointed!

Maggie’s recipe does include her Verjuice, which can be purchased online at our Sassy Marketplace, among other products from her range, which you can browse here.

Ingredients

Filling:

• 60g flaked almonds
• 3 Granny Smith apples
• 1/3 cup Verjuice
• 200g seedless raisins
• 200g dried apricots
• 100g dried figs
• 200g sultanas
• 250g currants
• 150g dried cumquat slices
• 100g candied mixed peel
• Zest of one orange
• Zest of one lemon
• 200g brown sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 150ml cumquat liqueur
• 175g unsalted butter

Pastry:

• 150g unsalted butter, chilled
• 225g plain flour
• 75g self-raising flour
• 55g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 1/2 tbsp iced water

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C. Place almonds on a baking tray and roast for five minutes. Remove from oven and cool, then finely chop.
2. Peel and coarsely grate apples, then cover with Verjuice. Chop the raisins, apricots and figs and combine in a mixing bowl with the apples and all other filling ingredients – except the butter. Mix together thoroughly. Cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. After 24 hours, melt the butter and stir through the fruit mixture.
4. For the pastry, begin by chopping the chilled butter. Place in a food processor with the flours and icing sugar and blend together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg yolk and iced water and, using the pulse button, process until the mixture starts to come together. Shape the pastry into a disc, then wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 210C. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3mm on a lightly floured bench and cut into shapes to fit your moulds and stars to place on top.
6. Line the moulds with the pastry base and top with a spoonful of fruit mince filling, followed by the pastry star.
7. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, or until pastry is golden and cooked through, and allow to cool in the trays before eating.

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