Christmas Tart
Serves 10 to 12
For the fruit mince
3 plums, pitted and finely diced
100g butter
90g soft dark brown sugar
100g raisins
100g sultanas
4 tbsp dried cranberries
1 orange, zest only
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
A generous grating of nutmeg
3 tbsp sherry
50ml orange juice
For the pastry
350g plain flour, sifted
180g chilled butter, diced
2 tbsp ground almonds
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
3 to 4 tbsp cold water
Egg wash, to glaze
Icing sugar, to dust
To make the filling, combine all the ingredients in a medium size saucepan and heat over a low heat, simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Set aside to cool completely before using.
To make the pastry, place the sifted flour into a large bowl. Add the diced butter and rub in until the mixture to resemble breadcrumbs. Add the ground almonds and icing sugar.
Add the egg yolk and some chilled water to form pastry. Wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5. Brush a 23cm round flan tin with a loose base with melted butter and dust with flour.
Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out thinly into a circle to fit the tin.
Trim off the excess pastry around the edge. Retain the excess pastry. Spread the filling into the pastry. Roll out the excess pastry and cut out small stars. Arrange the stars randomly on the fruit mince and brush with egg wash.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 18 to 20 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool before transferring to a cooling rack.
Dust with icing sugar.
