5 from 1 vote

Crisp pastry, rich mincemeat, delicate spice-infused sponge & brilliant white, sweet frosting come together to create a taste & texture explosion. This Festive Mincemeat Tart is indulgent, rich & just perfect for the holidays!

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I love this time of year. The holiday anticipation and excitement, the menu planning, festive cheer, seasonal recipes like my Raw Christmas Fruit Cake, Gingerbread Waffles and now this new Festive Mincemeat Tart..... We will conveniently forget the crowded grocery stores, exhaustion, the mountains of washing up and the pitiful bank balance at the end of it all ;O)

When I think 'festive food', luxury, richness & indulgence come to mind, but the essence of the holidays is truly captured in spices. They are an essential part of making sure that your holidays taste and smell wonderful, so when I was given the opportunity to work with Frontier Co-op and their wonderful range of organic and sustainable spices, my holiday head went into overdrive!

So many ideas, so little time. I mean the possibilities are endless when you have the most delicious, aromatic spices at your fingertips.

SPICE UP YOUR LIFE & GET FESTIVE WITH FRONTIER CO-OP

I am sure we have all fallen into the trap of buying the lowest priced spices available at the grocery store to save some pennies. Bulk size bags of budget brands are often very cheap and we think by buying them we are saving. Truth is though, that what they make up for in price, they lack in flavour and you end up having to use much more to get anywhere near the taste you expect in your food and often it ends up lacking character and pizazz anyway.

Spending a little more on a quality brand like Frontier Co-op makes all the difference. When I opened the containers of the spices they sent me I was blown away by the vibrant aroma of the spices inside. They smell A-mazing. The Jamaican All-Spice. It is seriously the bomb.

Frontier Co-op's spices are organic, non-gmo, sustainably produced and non-ethylene oxide treated. Another big reason to love them.

I am a bit weird and have a habit of tasting a little bit of my spices as they are, just on the tip of my finger before I use them. It gives me a good idea of their flavour and how strong they are and how much I will need. I do the same with fresh chili peppers too (I told you I was weird). I cut a little piece off the end and taste it before I cook with them. There have been many amusing mad dashes to grab a glass and glug water until my tongue is no longer on fire. The worst one was prior to me creating my Fiery Habanero Hot Sauce. You can only imagine how hot that one was.

There was no blistering heat this time though, only fresh, vibrant, delicious flavour. I was sent Jamaican All Spice, Turmeric, Cinnamon, Black Pepper and Vanilla and it didn't take long for this Festive Mincemeat Tart to materialize.

As you probably know by now, I live in Canada with my husband and son and the rest of my family are all in England. It's at this time of year with all of the festivities and family gatherings happening all around, that the distance between us becomes even more apparent. I happened to be thinking about my Mum and Dad and remembered the Bakewell Tarts my Mum makes.

WHAT IS A BAKEWELL TART?

A Bakewell Tarts is a traditional English tart with a pie crust, a layer of jam (usually raspberry), a layer of frangipan (a sweet almondy sponge) and then a topping of toasted flaked almonds. Less traditional versions sometimes have a layer of white frosting on the top and glacé cherries for decoration.

A FESTIVE SPIN ON THE TRADITIONAL BAKEWELL TART

I decided to take my Mum's traditional Bakewell Tart and and turn it on it's head, making it a festive treat perfect for the holidays. I switched out the jam for suet free sweet mincemeat, the frangipan for a vanilla, Jamaican all-spice, cinnamon and turmeric infused sponge, added a layer of sweet, soft white frosting and kept the traditional sprinkle of toasted flaked almonds on the top for extra texture and nuttiness.

I had never used turmeric in baked goods before now, so it was a bit of an experiment but I was so pleased with the result. The lovely flavour of the Frontier Co-op Spices comes through beautifully and the colour of the sponge is a lovely warm yellow colour thanks to the turmeric. It is a joy to eat with the crisp pastry (no soggy bottoms around here), the indulgently rich mincemeat, the fluffy spiced sponge, the sweet soft frosting and the crunchy toasted almonds flakes.

SPEED THINGS UP WITH THIS HANDY SHORTCUT

If you are concerned that this whole thing looks complicated, please don't be. If you aren't confident working with pastry, or just don't have the time, buy a ready made case. Most of the frozen varieties in the grocery store are accidentally vegan. They are usually 9" in diameter and that will be fine. An 8" one would work too but you might end up with a tiny bit more cake batter than will fit comfortably. The leftovers can be the cook's treat. The good thing about vegan baking is that you don't need to worry about raw eggs in the batter. You can eat as much of it as you like! Besides the pastry everything else is as easy as ~~pie~~ tart!

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Frontier Co-op. I only ever recommend products that I truly enjoy & use myself & the featured recipe, opinions & text are all my own.

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