Mincemeat Bakewell Tart

My family isn’t so much of a fan of pumpkin pie, and I was tasked with bringing dessert to last week’s Thanksgiving celebration. I get a couple of British baking magazines and this time of year they have many festive desserts. I love anything with mincemeat, and as soon as I saw this recipe for a mincemeat tart combined with a Bakewell tart, I knew that was what I wanted to make. 

A traditional Bakewell tart has a pastry shell, filled with jam and then topped with an almond filling. This just uses mincemeat in place of the jam. This particular recipe uses more of a cookie crust for the base rather than traditional pastry. I think this would be just a good with regular pie crust, as I found this crust to be challenging to work with. It was very sticky and it even stuck to the parchment. It just fell to pieces when I tried to transfer it to the tart pan. I just pressed it in to place and that seemed to work ok.

Topping the mincemeat with the almond filling was a very delicate procedure, so take your time in doing that. There is plenty of filling, even though it doesn’t seem like there is that much filling. My tart pan wasn’t as deep as I think it needed to be, so my pan was extra full and it made it difficult to remove the tart from the pan. Once I cut the first piece it was fine. This is a beautiful tart. It’s fairly sturdy, so it travelled well, too. We all enjoyed this at dinner, and it would be perfect for any upcoming holiday event.

Mincemeat Bakewell Tart

2.5 ounces butter, room temperature

3.5 ounces sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 ounces flour

4.5 ounces butter, room temperature

4.5 ounces sugar

2 eggs

1.5 ounces ground almonds

3.8 ounces self-rising flour*

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

14 ounces prepared mincemeat

1/3 cup sliced almonds

In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour and beat until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Have a 9” tart pan ready.

Place the pastry between sheets of parchment paper. Roll out to 1/8” thick. Transfer the dough to the tart pan. (If the dough is too sticky you can’t cleanly get it in the pan, just use your fingers to press the dough into place.) Prick the base of the tart shell with a fork and freeze for 10 minutes to set. Line the tart pan with foil and top with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven and remove the foil and pie weights. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.

In a large mixer bowl stir together the butter, sugar, eggs, ground almonds, self-rising flour, cinnamon and ginger, set aside. Spread the mincemeat in the bottom of the tart shell. Carefully top with mincemeat with the butter/ground almond filling. Sprinkle with the sliced almonds. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the filling is set. Allow to cool on a wire rack. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Recipe from BBC Easy Cook

* I make my own self-rising flour by combining 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt