I love Portuguese tarts & I love mince pies so I thought I'd try a bit of a mush up of the two!! And I have to say OMG, Heaven on a plate. Make them, devour them, thank me later xxx
For a non festive take you could replace the mincemeat with apricot jam.
For the custard
For a non festive take you could replace the mincemeat with apricot jam.
For the custard
3 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
40g corn flour
Zest of 1 orange
350ml milk
1 tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau (optional)
For the pastry
375g readymade, ready rolled puff pastry
2 tbsp demerara sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
12 tbsps of mincemeat
For the Topping
20g demerara sugar
2 tbsp flaked Almonds
You will also need 1 x 12-hole muffin tins, greased with butter or lining paste. (Don't miss out the greasing of the tin, as they can be quite tricky to remove)
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl with the sugar, corn flour, orange zest and 1/3 of the milk until smooth.
Heat the rest of the milk in a medium pan until almost boiling, then pour over the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Add the Grand Marnier, if using, then return to the pan and cook over a medium heat whisking constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens. Simmer for a further minute to cook out the flour. Transfer to a jug to cool slightly and cover with cling-film sitting directly on top of the custard to stop a skin forming.
Unwrap the pastry and sprinkle over the sugar and cinnamon in an even layer. Slice the pastry into quarters and sandwich each quarter together. Roll into two rolls and cut each into 6 slices. Turn each disc over on to its cut side and flatten out, so that it fits into the prepared muffin mould. Make sure there are no gaps in the pastry or the custard will leak.
Spoon 1 tbsp of mincemeat followed by one heaped tbsp of custard into each tart, sprinkle each tart with the flaked almonds and demerara sugar and bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes or until they have risen and are golden. Remove from the tin immediately and allow to cool completely on a wire rack if you can wait that long.
Ps. You may have a tiny amount of the custard left over, just eat it, don't over fill the tarts x
Pps. For an extra crisp topping when you take the tarts out of the tins, give a little tickle over each surface with a kitchen blow torch.
Pps. For an extra crisp topping when you take the tarts out of the tins, give a little tickle over each surface with a kitchen blow torch.