15 December 2013

Fruit Mince Tarts ... IHCC



A quiet Sunday morning with church services cancelled due to blustery snow and icy roads ... frost at the windows ... the Christmas tree all lit up ... and tins and plates to be filled for neighbors, near and far! This snowy Sunday has been a cozy Godsend, as these little tarts have been the result! Perhaps this afternoon I'll make the apricot jam thumbprints, chocolate rum balls, and Russian teacakes that are always a traditional favorite!



In the meantime, I'd like to share these little tarts with friends at I Heart Cooking Club ... this week, our challenge was to choose a recipe that one might use to fill up our Christmas gift tins! Donna Hay has a wide selection of cookies, sandwich bars, and little sweet bites in her cook books and on her website. This little recipe  (this is the link!) caught my attention, because it involves a fruit mince that mimics canned mincemeat, but is infinitely easier to make. The pastry crust is a sweet crumbly crust that has half vegetable shortening and half unsalted butter ... very flaky and crumbly and made from my mother's recipe.

Donna suggests using little stars to top her tarts (isn't her photo of these tarts just beautiful!), but I have small heart and tiny Corgi dog cookie cutters ... and since we love our little Corgis and since I'm spreading the love at Christmastime ... well, it fits, don't you think?




I made the fruit mince yesterday afternoon and let it sit over night. Today all the juices are mingled and the bit of cinnamon that I added has had a chance to really mature the mince flavour. The addition of the cinnamon was the only change I made to Donna's recipe.




A simple crust chilled and rolled out and then, the fun of assembling and decorating begins!  With Johnny Mathis singing about the most wonderful time of the year, and the sound of shovels scraping the snow off the roof (we got a foot of the stuff last night!), I blithely puttered away my Sunday morning!




I hope you're all baking your favorites and sharing them with your friends and loved ones too! It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Merry Christmas!

This post is being shared with the other bakers at I Heart Cooking Club's weekly recipe share. You may see what others are baking by following the above link !




12 comments:

  1. So perfectly Christmassy. They're so cute. You paint a very homely Christmas picture xx

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  2. These fruit mince tarts are something completely new for me. I love the ingredients in the mince (I'm wild about dates) and I think your heart and corgi toppers are way too cute!

    I had to read the part about the shovel scraping the roof twice, however. I have never heard of that before, but that sure is a lot of snow!

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  3. I love fruit minces and those look very good. of course it makes sense to top w/ the corgi's for exactly the reason you said. Where did you find those cute little cookie cutters?

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  4. Such cute little bites! I love the hearts and corgis on top--just adorable and so festive with the red sprinkles.
    ;-)

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  5. Very cute tarts with the cut out corgi!
    Christmas would not be complete without fruit mince tarts!

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  6. These little tarts are adorable! I love the Corgi cutters...Tasha Tudor would have swiped them from you no doubt! Although, Tibbies, are my favorite, of course, Corgis are very cute as well. :-) These tarts look so Christmas-y...great choice. Love the picture of you all baking when it is snowy and frightful outside.

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  7. Love the corgi cutouts...so cute! Mince tarts are perfect for this time of year. Wonderful choice.

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  8. Those look so good! Love the corgi!

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  9. I think your toppers are much cuter thsn stars. What I like most is that you took DH's recipe and melded it with your mother's crust recipe.

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  10. Aw the corgi cutouts!!! I now want all my mince pies to have corgis instead of stars! (We call them mince pies instead of mince tarts in the uk.) Happy christmas to you Susan!

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  11. What cute little tarts. Love the hearts and corgis. They are such adorable little dogs.

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  12. I love fruit mince pies - one of my all time favourite Christmas treats. I love that you used your mum's pastry recipe, and topped them off with your hearts and corgis - very cute.

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