Mick likes Manchester tarts
This Christmas being what it is, I have been finding joy in the smaller (and cheaper) delights. I’ve been baking.
On Sunday I was up to my elbows in Guinness-steeped currants and dates, making mounds of mince pies for my friends in the office. However, on presentation to my colleagues in our broadcast and creative departments, I didn’t quite get the gratitude I expected.
“Yeurch. I don’t like mince pies,” Michael Cullen told me.
“What do you want then?”
“My granny used to make these little things that were exactly like mince pies but they had coconut and jam in.”
I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about so I set about doing a bit of research. Sure enough, I found a recipe – Manchester Tarts. They were nothing like mince pies but Mick was right; they did have coconut and jam in.
Being from the North West of England I have come across my fair share of Manchester Tarts and they are historically easy to knock up.
So I made a batch and brought them in alongside my mince pies. Once Kevin Murray got a sniff of them, word got round. And it turns out that Michael Cullen isn’t quite as unique as you’d think – the Manchester Tarts disappeared much more quickly than the mince pies.
And so, in the spirit of festive giving, here is my recipe for Mick’s Alternative Mince Pies. I tend to think it’s nicer to have several small tarts but this recipe will work to make one big tart should that be your preference. And any leftover pastry will freeze.
Merry Christmas all.
For the pastry:
- 225g butter
- 50g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 350g plain flour
For the pastry, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until just mixed. Break in a whole egg and a yolk.
Beat together for just under 1 min – it will look a bit like scrambled egg.
Now work in the flour with a wooden spoon, a third at a time, then finish gathering it together with your hands.
Gently work the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film, and chill for 45 mins.
For the filling:
- 3 eggs
- 225ml pint double cream
- 50g caster sugar
- 90g desiccated coconut
- 75g jam
- ∏ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Warm the cream with the vanilla extract to just below boiling.
Mix the eggs, sugar and coconut together, then pour the cream onto the sugar mix and stir.
Put to one side.
Grease a flan case/baking tray with butter. Roll out your pastry on a floured surface. If making small tarts cut out rounds in the pastry and line each hole in the baking sheet, if making one tart line the flan case with the pastry.
Put a small blob of jam into each case and pour the coconut mixture on top.
Bake in the oven until golden brown (around 15 mins for individual tartlets and 25mins for large tart.)
Allow to cool before serving.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
