Christmas tart

Make the pastry first. Sift the flour in a large bowl and cut the butter into chunks.
 
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Mix in the castor sugar, egg and water.  Again with your fingers bring the mixture together to form soft dough. (Add more water if you need to.)

Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Once chilled, roll out the pastry and line a 29cm tart tin.

Bake the pastry blind * in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove the baking beans and paper and place back for 2-3 minutes. Remove and set aside whilst preparing the filling.

For the filling, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.  Fold in the eggs, almonds, vanilla essence and orange zest.

Spread the fruit mince mixture over the base of the tart.

Pour over the almond topping and return to the oven.  Bake for 30-35minutes until golden.

Serve warm with lots of vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream.

*To bake pastry blind
After lining the tart tin with pastry, tear a sheet of baking paper just larger than the tart tin. Press into the pastry, then pour over baking beans (from specialist cook shops) or fill with rice/beans. This makes sure the pastry cooks before the filling is added and does not puff up and rise in the oven.  Keep the rice/beans as they can be used multiple times.

Chef’s tip
Replace the fruit mince with 3-4 nectarines, sliced, for a more fruity dessert.

Reprinted with permission of Sasko.