I was going to post this recipe early in the New Year as an encouragement to use up any leftover mincemeat abandoned in the back of the fridge. But why wait? It’s deserving of much more attention than an after thought – a decadent dessert to share over the festive period.
Crisp pastry filled with lashings of rich, seasonal spiced fruits, topped with sugar-garnished pastry strips. Sounds good, huh? Too good? Na! If you’re used to not being able to indulge in desserts, you’ll be happy to know this is low in fat, can be made gluten free, nut free and soya free if needed whilst still being fully plant-based and super yummy!
You could use this nut butter based pastry for the base. However, I prefer to use this more rustic pastry as it comes with extra texture and stability (which you need for the lattice strips). It may seems a little complicated, but it’s actually a bit of magic. Here’s a video I made a little while ago to help if you need some visuals.
The recipe below gives you enough to fill a 20cm tart tin. A loose bottomed tin is essential for this dessert. A fluted tart tin like this one is best, but if you don’t have one to hand, a low-sided cake tin with a loose bottom works ok. You may find the pastry doesn’t cover the sides of the tin fully, so there will be some trimming and patching to do – but as you can see from the photo it works ok.
If you’re using shop-bought mincemeat, do check the fat content if you’re following a low fat diet like the OMS programme. Even vegetarian mincemeat tends to contain palm oil in the suet which is highly saturated and not part of an anti-inflammatory diet. I always make my own because of that – plus it tastes awesome (even if I say so myself!). You can find my mincemeat recipe here.
Don’t be stingy with the mincemeat – pack it in as much as you can right to the top of the pastry is best. It does make it quite rich, but very satisfying. And you can always choose to have a small slice…… ;). Serve with dairy-free cream, soya yoghurt or dairy-free custard. Or vegan ice cream if you have one that suits your dietary requirements.
This dessert keeps well in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to 4 days. I’ve not tried freezing it as it always gets eaten! But I’m sure it will freeze well if called upon.
I hope you enjoy this dessert as much as we do. If you make it, do let me know how you get on.
Vegan mincemeat lattice tart
Equipment
- 20cm wide loose bottomed cake or tart tin
- Rolling pin
- non-stick baking paper
- baking beans
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 3 tbsp water
- 100 grams oats gluten free if necessary
- 100 grams mixed nuts or sunflower seeds if nut free
- pinch salt
- 2 tbsp dark brown sugar like coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp water
Other ingredients
- 200 grams mincemeat **
- 1 tbsp soya milk
- 1 tbsp demerara or golden castor sugar optional
Instructions
Make the pastry
- Mix the ground flaxseed and water together in a small bowl and leave to thicken.
- Pop the oats into the blender jug and blitz for a few seconds to form a flour. Tip into a bowl then add the nuts (or seeds) to the blender jug and blitz again to form a powder.
- Add the ground nuts to the oats along with the salt and sugar. Mix well to combine.
- Pour the flaxseed 'egg' into the dry ingredients along with the 2 extra tablespoons of water. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry with a spoon, then when everything starts sticking, use your fingers to bring together into a ball.
- Wrap the pastry in some clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.
Make the tart
- Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC. Remove the pastry from the fridge.
- Tear off two pieces of non-stick baking paper. Tear off 1/4 pastry and put to one side.
- Place one sheet of non-stick baking paper on the work top and pop the dough in the middle. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand and place the other sheet of baking paper over the top. Roll out with the rolling pin to about 0.5cm thick and big enough to cover the base and the sides of the tin.
- Remove the top piece of baking paper. Carefully pick up the pastry on the bottom piece of baking paper and turn it upside down over the tin. Press into the base and sides of the tin, peeling off the paper as you go. If any bit break, pinch together and trim any excess.
- Prick the base of the pastry with a fork a few times then cover with one of the sheets of baking paper. Pour in the baking beans and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until it starts to firm up.
- Whilst the pastry case is baking, roll the remaining pastry out into a long strip and cut into 4 strips approx 2 cm wide.
- Remove the baking beans and paper from the pastry case. Fill the case with a generous amount of mincemeat. Carefully peel the strips of pastry off the baking paper and place over the top of the mincemeat vertically, then horizontally over the top to create a lattice.
- Brush the pastry with soya milk and sprinkle the extra sugar over the top (if using).
- Place back in the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before serving hot. Alternatively leave to cool completely.
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