Makes 18 For the pastry 175g plain flour 75g butter, cut into cubes 1 egg, beaten Frangipane 100g butter, soft 100g caster sugar 2 large eggs 1 level tbsp. plain flour 100g ground almonds
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tsp almond extract Filling and topping 1 jar of mincemeat flavoured with brandy (2 tsp.), apricot jam (1 tbsp) and flaked almonds (1 level tsp.)
To make the pastry place all the dry pastry ingredients into a food processor and mix until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add in the beaten egg and pulse until the mix forms a ball of dough. Knead and wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes in fridge.
To make the frangipane place the butter and sugar into the processor and blend until creamy. Scrape the mix to the bottom of the bowl and add your eggs and process until mixed, add in the ground almonds, flour and almond extract and mix again.
Next roll out the pastry onto lightly floured work surface. You will be placing these into a pie tin that holds 18. Cut the dough using a 6.5cm cutter into circles and place in greased tin. Use the circles to line the tin. If you have a bigger tin, use a bigger cutter to cut the circles to line the tin. Spoon in a teaspoon of the mincemeat into each tartlet and top with the frangipane mix. Do not overfill and sprinkle with a few almonds.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes until golden and allow to cool on wire rack. You can glaze with a little apricot jam slightly warmed for an extra taste.
When serving, warm in the oven.
These can be frozen if you want to do this job ahead of Christmas. In order to defrost, you need to cool for 2-3 hours; then glaze with the apricot jam and heat through in the oven.