Fruit Mince Tarts (+VIDEO) - Sweet Caramel Sunday

Name: Fruit Mince Tarts
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 17 min
Ingredients: butter (unsalted); 2 cups fruit mince (Note 1 ); 4 sheets shortcrust pastry (Note 2); icing sugar (sifted)

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This Fruit Mince Tarts recipe is quick and easy to make! Perfect for Christmas time when you want to get your bake on during the festive season these mini fruit mince pies are perfect to entertain with. We use our own homemade fruit mince and store bought short crust pastry to bring them together needing only minimal effort!

Fruit mince tart on white plate with reindeer figurine. — Homemade Fruit Mince Tarts

Recipes like the Brie Cranberry Tarts and the Caramelised Onion Tarts are sweet finger foods that work well for Christmas Day.

The homemade fruit mince recipe will set you back only around 15 minutes and allows you to bake these sweet treats from the comfort of home. Much like the Chilli Tomato Jam which gives us a festive savory condiment option.

Baked tarts with fruit mince filling on white plate with red ribbon.

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🤍 Recipe Highlights
🥗 Ingredients
😉 Substitutions and Variations
🍳 Instructions
👩‍🍳 How to Make Fruit Mince Tarts
🍽 Serving Suggestions
👍 How to Guide
💡 Tasty Tips
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
😍 More Easy Christmas Recipes
📖 Recipe

🤍 Recipe Highlights

I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the mini fruit mince tarts recipe in the points below:

Simple ingredients: we use minimal ingredients for the recipe and they are all simple and easy to find at the local grocery store.
Quick: once pulled together these fruit mince pies take less than 15 minutes to oven bake. That makes them a perfect recipe to turn to when time is of the essence.
Homemade: whether you want to make these fruit mince tarts for the holiday season or to give as gifts, there is an authenticity about them as they are homemade and delicious! Coming from the heart, fresh from the oven and warm denotes all sorts of festive fun!
Versatile: if you want to skip the Christmas pudding this year but sub in a similar dessert style recipe these fruit mince tarts are it! They work for a number of serving opportunities.

🥗 Ingredients

The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the fruit mince tarts recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for the full ingredients list with measurements as well as detailed instructions.

As you can see the mincemeat tarts recipe calls for:

Butter: we use unsalted butter to grease the 2 x patty pans.
Icing sugar: icing sugar or confectioner's sugar is used to dust the tarts once they are baked.
Fruit mince: I like to use homemade fruit mince to make these. We need 2 cups of it.
Short crust pastry: store bought shortcrust pastry keeps things easy and convenient. It is a sweet pastry that works well for desserts. Keep it in the freezer and whip it out as needed! We want enough pastry both for the base of the tarts as well as to decorate the top of them.

😉 Substitutions and Variations

Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:

Pastry: shortcrust pastry is different to puff pastry and cooks differently. They are not interchangeable for all recipes. If wanting to use that in part of the process for this recipe, you could use it to make the stars/tops of the tarts, but keep using short crust for the bases.
Store bought: you can use a jar of store bought fruit mince for the filling if you wish too. If choosing to do so, read the ingredients and ensure there is variety with a sweet aspect to it also. Or add your own flavors to it to make it what you want it to be.
Crumble topping: if you would like to make a crumble topping for the tarts you can! Please see the Apple Crumble Tartlets recipe and use that crumble as a reference.

🍳 Instructions

Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by greasing 2 x 12 cup patty pans tins.

Butter greased patty pan tin on marble background. — Step 1

Grease the 2 patty pans (Photo 1)

👩‍🍳 How to Make Fruit Mince Tarts

To make the fruit mince tarts, start by removing the shortcrust pastry from the freezer.

Next use unsalted butter to grease 2 x patty pan tins (so that we can make 24 tarts).

Once done removing the packaging from the pastry and place 1 sheet on a clean, dry cutting board. You can see what this process will look like in the photo below. Take a round cookie cutter that measures 6.5cm or 2.5 inches and cut circles for our pastry rounds like you see below.

Cookie cutting cutting pastry on chopping board. — Step 2

Cut the pastry using a cookie cutter (Photo 2)

Continue to cut the pastry into circles for the tart cases until you have 24 in total.

As you work, you can place the cut circles onto the greased tins like you see in the photo below.

Cut pastry circles sitting on top of greased patty pan tin. — Step 3

Place the cut pastry onto the tart tin (Photo 4)

Then you want to gently push each of the circles into the patty pan tin so that they form the round based tartlet shells.

Pastry pushed into patty pan tin on marble background. — Step 4

Push into the pan (Photo 4)

The next step is to then fill each of the tarts with the fruit mixture (see the fruit mince filling recipe for as a reference point).

I like to use a mini cookie scoop for this as it means each will get a consistent amount of the filling, plus the lever helps to transfer the sticky fruit mince without having to get your fingers in the mix.

Fruit mince in raw pastry in patty pan tin on marble background. — Step 5

Add the fruit mince filling (Photo 5)

Then when ready you can use the leftover pastry to cut stars. These are what we are going to use to top or close off the tarts with.

Starts being cut from short crust pastry on white plate. — Step 6

Cut the stars (Photo 6)

Once cut, place the pastry stars on top of each tart and push down so that the edges of the stars meet the pie bases and seal.

Pastry stars on top of fruit mince in patty pan tin. — Step 7

Add the pastry stars to the top of the tarts (Photo 7)

Now that all of the work has been done, we simply place the patty pan tins into the oven and let the tarts cook.

Then need between 12 to 15 minutes to cook and you will see the pastry change from a pale colour to a golden brown during this time!

Once the cooking time is up you can use oven mitts to remove the tart pans from the oven, place them onto a heatproof surface for a couple of minutes and then gently push them out of the pan onto a wire rack.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

Nothing says 'Merry Christmas' like homemade baked goods. Star shapes on top of mincemeat pies makes the Christmas season fun and festive.

When it comes to serving your fruit mince tarts, a dust of icing sugar over the top gives them a nice finishing touch.

I do use a mini sieve and 'sift' this as I go which is a good way to ensure that you do get a sugar 'dust' without big lumps of icing sugar on the plate.

Icing sugar dusted over the top of fruit mince tarts on white plate.

You can get a little festive too with your presentation buy adding a pop of colour with a red ribbon or mini Christmas figurines to get people into the spirit.

Fruit mince tarts on white plate with red ribbon.

👍 How to Guide

How to Store

Once the tarts are cooked you can remove the patty pans from the oven and place them onto a cooling rack. Let them sit in there for a couple of minutes and then use a teaspoon at the end to gently push them up and out of the pan.

How to Freeze

Let the tarts filling cool and then transfer them to a sealed, airtight container. Place baking paper between layers of the tarts. Fruit mince pieces can be frozen for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat

You can place baked fruit mince pies onto a plate and reheat in the microwave in 10 second increments until warmed through.

Or remove frozen fruit mince tarts from the freezer and place them into a preheated moderate oven. Let the tarts defrost and thaw in one step ie not thaw then reheat.

💡 Tasty Tips

Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:

I have made these fruit mince tarts in both the pans that you see pictured through the post as well as the patty pans that have a deeper more muffin like base. If using the other type of patty pan tin I recommend using the same size cookie cutters as this recipes calls for. The pastry goes deeper into the tin and sits under the level surface of the flat part of the pan.
I don't however, recommend using a standard size muffin tin for this recipe. It makes the tarts or fruit mince pies too big! Even died hard fans of fruit mince pieces don't want to eat a huge 'party pie' sized fruit mince pie. Or do they...I personally don't! That being said...if you want to use a muffin tin and have no other option it can be done. Use the same cookie cutter dimensions as listed and the tarts will sit lower in the muffin tin making them around ½ the size of a regular muffin (ie they won't fully fill the muffin tin from top to bottom).
You can use the smooth edge (as I have done) for cutting the pastry shells or the fluted (more curved) edge if you want a slightly different look to the tarts.
To make the pastry star as a feature on top of the tarts you can use 1 large start cookie cutter or 2 smaller ones and over lap the stars. You can see what both of these options will look like in the photos as well as a start cut out of a round pie top. Each of these options are fun to play around with!
I don't think using an egg wash is necessary for these tarts. If however, you are using puff pastry for the stars, you can brush them with a whisked egg using a basting brush.
Ensuring that the oven is preheated before placing the patty pan tins in to cook is the best way of ensuring an accurate cook time to follow.
Do you love recipes that use fruit? Try the Apple Custard Tarts, Apple Crumble Tartlets, Tinned Fruit Crumble or the Fruit Platter 😄👌.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

How do you keep fruit tarts from getting soggy?

Ensuring that the fruit mince you are using has no additional liquids or that they have been absorbed is one way of making sure that your fruit tarts won't get soggy.

Which type of dough is most often used for tarts?

Shortcrust pastry or dough is the most commonly used pastry for tarts.

Should fruit fillings be cooled before filling pie shells?

Yes. Fruit fillings should be cooled before adding to pie shells. This will ensure that the filling does not invertedly affect the pie shell.

Should you cook fruit before putting in pie?

For fruit mince pies the fruit should be cooked before being put into pies. Similarly for apple custard tarts where the fruit is stewed. For fresh fruit tarts that use berries like strawberry tarts, blueberry tarts or raspberry tarts, it is not necessary to bake the fruits before putting them in the pie.

Should you blind bake pie crust for fruit pies?

For mini fruit pies or tarts it is not necessary to blind bake the pie crust. For a large pie it is a good step in the cooking process to ensure that the pie case is cooked through.

😍 More Easy Christmas Recipes

Ho, ho, ho, its beginning to look a lot like Christmas! If cooking during the festive season is your favorite thing to do then I have more ideas to share with you. These recipes are perfect for the festive season and you can mix and match as you please for appetizers, sides or dessert!

Meat ideas: Bourbon Glazed Ham, Slow Cooker Pork Belly.
Crowd pleasers: Baked Camembert Platter, Spinach And Bacon Cob Loaf, Bacon And Cheese Cob Loaf, Spinach Cob Loaf Dip, Spinach And Bacon Cob Loaf.
Sides: Potato And Sweet Potato Bake, Skin on Roast Potatoes, Creamy Garlic Potatoes.
Chocolate ideas: Rum And Raisin Fudge, Caramilk Rocky Road, Chocolate Caramel Slice, Macadamia Caramel Slice., White Chocolate Macadamia Blondies.
Cheese ideas: Caramelized Onion Brie, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Bites, Baked Feta With Honey, Goat Cheese Log.

It is time to get our Christmas feast and fruit mince tarts on my friend! Does anyone else hear sleigh bells ringing 🎅🎄🦌. You can also find all of my Christmas recipes or dessert recipes in the one spot!

Adrianne

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