Mincemeat Tarts with Hard Sauce

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As much as rum balls are a tradition at Christmas for our family, these mincemeat tarts are “la crème de la crème”, so to speak ,of our sweets during the holidays.  I can remember as a child growing up longing for them on Christmas eve, and Christmas day.  Those were the only two days of the year that we got them.  As we got older we were allowed two each and would stack the “hard sauce”, which was just butter, icing sugar and rum, high on top.  Oh, the cholesterol, sugar and fat! 

When I switched to eating plant based, I worried it would be challenging to still be able to eat them… Nope, just like most things, they are easily converted to being vegan.  In the recipe of my childhood, they contained suet (yes that is disgusting), and the hard sauce contained butter.  I just looked up the definition of suet… I knew it was animal fat, but was unaware that it is specifically “the hard, white fat on the kidneys and loins of cattle, sheep and other animals, used to make foods including puddings, pastry and mincemeat”.  Ugh, why would you want to eat that?!  Thankfully, it is easy to find suet-free mincemeat, which is a mixture of mainly fruits, sugars and spices.   Just note, this is a Christmas treat… not healthy!  (At least there is no cholesterol as there are no animal products!) Next posts will focus on healthy foods.  Enough of this sweet debauchery!

Here are the ingredients you will need for the tarts.  If you have never made tarts before, making pastry is very easy.  It is just flour, water and salt and vegan butter. There are full step by step instructions through the photos below.  If you don’t want to make the pastry, look for vegan tarts in your local grocery store.

Cut vegan butter into the flour and salt with a pastry cutter.

Keep blending until it has the consistency of small crumbled pieces.

Pour a tablespoon or so of water along the edge of the mixture and with a fork, blend and flatten against the edge of the bowl.

Continue doing this until eventually all of the mixture is moist and flattened against one side.

The mixture is now moist and ready to be formed into a ball.

Gently form into a ball and place on a hard surface sprinkled with flour.

With a rolling pin, flatten out the dough to almost as flat as possible.

Find a bowl or cup that has the proper size for the cut out to fit as shown into a muffin tin.

Continue until you have 14 tarts.

You will have a bit of pastry left over to make the small cut outs to place on top of the tarts with a small shot glass or cup.

Mix about 1.5 ounces of rum into 2 cups of mincemeat.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees and bake for approximately 15 more minutes.  Watch closely that they don’t get too brown.

Next you will need to make the hard sauce.  Simply mix 5 tablespoons of coconut oil, 1.5 ounces of rum, and 1.5-2 cups of icing sugar into a high speed blender or food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Taste and add more of what you need.  The more icing sugar you add, the thicker the hard sauce will be.  This will thicken up after a few hours in the fridge.

 

Mincemeat Tarts and Hard sauce

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Serves: 14 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes 30 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• Pastry:
• 2 cups of flour (you could sub half with whole wheat flour)
• 2/3 cup of vegan butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons of water
• Mincemeat filling:
• 2 cups of vegan mincemeat
• 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons of dark rum
• Hard sauce:
• 5 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1.5 ounces of dark rum
• approximately 2 cups of icing sugar
•  

Instructions

Tarts: 

1. Heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.  Mix together the mincemeat and rum and allow to sit on the counter while you make the pastry.
3. Make the pastry as per the photos above.  Mix the flour and salt together then cut in the room temperature "butter".
4. Start on one end and pour approximately 1 tablespoon of water into the mix.  Stir in the area where the water is, slowly mashing the mixture up against the side of the bowl.
5. Continue this until the entire mix is pressed against the bowl.
6. Remove the pastry and gently press it into a ball trying not to handle it too much.
7. Roll the pastry, with a rolling pin dusted with flour, onto a flat surface also covered with a skiff of flour so that it doesn't stick.
8.  Roll the pastry out until very flat.
9. Find a bowl or cup that will cut the right size shape for the muffin tins.  Use the cup to make the cut outs.
10. This recipe should make 14 tarts with enough left for the tiny circles to go on top.
11. Once the pastry is ready in the tins, fill the pastry cups about 2/3 full of mincemeat.
12. Place the small pastry circle on top.
13. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 20.  Keep watch that the tarts don't start to brown too much.
14. These can be made and baked completely before hand and frozen then thawed and warmed in an oven before serving.  Mincemeat tarts taste best served warm.

Hard Sauce:

1. Mix 5 tablespoons of coconut oil, 1.5 ounces of rum, and 1 1/2 -2 cups of icing sugar into a high speed blender, food processor or mixer.
2. Combine until smooth.  Taste and add more of what you need.  The more icing sugar you add, the thicker the hard sauce will be.  This will thicken up after a few hours in the fridge.

www.thevibrantveggie.com

 

Notes

These tarts can stick to the pan if the mincemeat seeps out of the tart. Make sure not to fill the tarts too full. Spray the pans and if you have them, use silicone muffin cups. Take them out of the muffin tin soon after removing them from the oven and allow them to cool on racks.