Iron Chef Shellie
 

Mini Hazelnut Mince Tarts

Christmas isn't complete without mince tarts. I made these for a food styling / photography class that Billy Law was hosting in Melbourne. They were styled by the students of the class.

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Mini Hazelnut Mince Tarts
December 15, 2013
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Mini Hazelnut Mince Tarts

Billy from A Table For Two runs photography and food styling workshops throughout the year, around Australia. I’ve been to both of his classes earlier this year as he finally got the chance to bring them to Melbourne. I do intend to blog about it at some stage, but I learnt a great deal, had some amazing food and made some new friends.

Billy recently ran a few more classes down here in Melbourne on the weekend that has just passed, and I was lucky enough to attend the food styling one, which would be Christmas themed. Oh, and I earned my keep by baking all the treats the class would be styling! Now Billy did tell me not to go overboard, but clearly he didn’t remember that I’m an over achiever, and would try to make as many things as I possibly could. 

These mince pies were a last minute addition to my list of things I was going to make. I’ve always wanted to make mince pies/tarts and I thought it would be a great time to try. 

I cut corners and bought a pre-mix mince fruit mix, as that was on special for $3, instead of buying bags of this, bags of that, which would have cost me $20+ (this girl is on a budget yo!). 

I also didn’t have brandy in my booze stash, so I ended up using rum instead. 

I ended up assembling them all at about 10:30pm Saturday night after I’d been out to dinner, and when they came out of the oven I wasn’t too happy with them, but decided to pack them for the class anyways. Turns out they looked better than I remembered, and a dusting of icing sugar smoothed any major imperfections. 

The two other photos were styled by other students of the class, I just can’t remember who! Thanks guys 😉 
Mini Hazelnut Mince Pies
Sarah Hobbs

1/4 cup (45g) sultanas
1/4 cup (50g) chopped raisins
1/4 cup (45g) currants
1/4 cup (50g) finely chopped dried dates
1/4 cup (50g) mixed peel
1/4 cup (50g) finely chopped red glace cherries
1/2 small granny smith apple, peeled, cored, coarsely grated
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs orange marmalade
1 tbs brandy
1 tsp mixed spice
Icing sugar mixture, to dust
Hazelnut pastry
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1/2 cup (50g) hazelnut meal
1/3 cup (60g) icing sugar mixture
125g chilled butter, chopped
1 egg yolk

1. To make the fruit mince, combine the sultanas, raisins, currants, dates, mixed peel, cherries, apple, sugar, marmalade, brandy and mixed spice in a medium glass or ceramic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 2 days, stirring occasionally, to develop the flavours.

2. Place flour, hazelnut meal, icing sugar and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and process until dough just comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until just smooth. Shape into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.

3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Divide pastry into 2 even portions. Roll one portion into a 2mm-thick disc. Use an 8cm-diameter round pastry cutter to cut 36 discs from pastry (re-rolling pastry when necessary). Line base and sides of 36 (1 1/2 tbs/30ml capacity) mini muffin pans. Spoon fruit mince evenly among the lined pans. Roll out remaining pastry to a 2mm-thick disc. Use a 4cm-diameter cutter to cut discs from pastry. Use a small, star-shaped cutter to cut stars from pastry discs. Place pastry discs over the fruit mince mixture and gently press the edges to seal. Use a pastry cutter to trim edges. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.

4. Bake, rotating trays halfway through cooking, for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly before gently turning onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Comments

6 comments on “Mini Hazelnut Mince Tarts
  1. Helen (Grab Your Fork)

    These look amazing! You are way too harsh a critic! Love the sound of the hazelnut crust too.

    Reply
    December 15, 2013 at 11:46 pm
  2. Katherine

    Love your tarts. They look so gorgeous! Why not follow me back for my 639 restaurant reviews in Melbourne?

    Reply
    December 16, 2013 at 8:40 am
  3. Joanne T Ferguson

    G’day and YUM! Looks GREAT, true!
    Love the combination of hazelnut with mince dried fruit too!
    Cheers! Joanne

    Reply
    December 16, 2013 at 10:45 am
  4. Daisy@Nevertoosweet

    Good work with the precooked fruit mince 🙂 I had having bags of this and that and only using a little bit of it all hehe never made mince tarts before and don’t have the time this yearrrrrrr sighhh next year must!

    Reply
    December 16, 2013 at 1:58 pm
  5. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef

    OMG I’d rip my right arm to take photos like this. 🙂

    Reply
    December 16, 2013 at 9:02 pm
  6. Marta @ What should I eat for breakfast today

    I’d love to attend photography workshop one day, it always sounds like an amazing experience. Yummy shots.

    Reply
    December 16, 2013 at 9:28 pm

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Shellie Froidevaux

All content on this site is by Shellie Froidevaux - aka Iron Chef Shellie. Her skills include recipe development, food styling in her kitchen studio, lifestyle and travel photography, restaurant photography on location, styling and shooting social media for her clients and photography workshops for people who really want to change their game :)

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