Mincemeat Tarts with Hard Sauce – Low Carb and Gluten-Free
Nothing says Christmas like mincemeat tarts with hard sauce. Low carb mincemeat is nestled in gluten-free almond flour pastry for a holiday treat that tastes every bit as good as the original.
Combine cranberries, walnuts, sweetener, apple, raisins, coconut oil, lemon zest, orange zest, lemon juice, water, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Bring to a simmer and cook 5 to 10 minutes or until sweetener is completely dissolved, stirring frequently. Remove and stir in brandy. Let cool completely.
Transfer to a clean jar and store in the refrigerator. It may harden up a bit in the fridge but can be warmed gently in the microwave to soften.
Pastry Crust:
Combine almond flour, gluten-free flour, sweetener, arrowroot starch, coconut flour, xanthan gum and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine.
Sprinkle butter over and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
With processor running on low, add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until dough begins to clump together.
Cover work surface with a large sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with almond flour. Turn out dough and form into a disk. Sprinkle with additional almond flour and top with another piece of parchment, then carefully roll out in all directions to form a rough circle about 13 inches in diameter.
Using a 2 ½ inch round cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as possible. Gently loosen circles of dough with an offset spatula and place into the cavities of a mini muffin pan, shaping to fit the cavities.
Gather up scraps of dough and re-roll to cut out more circles, using almond flour as necessary. You should get about 24 small tartlets and still have a little dough leftover to cut out decorative shapes for the tops of your tarts.
Prick the bottoms of the tarts several times with a fork or sharp and then freeze at least one hour.
To make the tarts, preheat oven to 325F. Fill each tart shell with about 2 teaspoon of mincemeat (this will only use up about half of the mincemeat).
Bake 18 to 22 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and tart edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool in pan at least 20 minutes (they are very fragile when still warm - if you want to serve them hot, rewarm them out of the muffin pans gently in the oven).
Hard Sauce:
Beat butter with powdered sweetener and rum until well combined and smooth. Refrigerate until firm. Dollop a little hard sauce on warm tarts to serve.
Notes
Mincemeat filling: Makes about 2 cups (you only need one cup for 24 mini tarts). Per tablespoon (32 tablespoons in 2 cups): 39 Calories; 3g Fat (62.1% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1mg Sodium. Total NET CARBS per tablespoon = 2 g.Mincemeat tarts: Makes 24 tarts (uses only about half of the mincemeat). Per tart: 111 Calories; 9g Fat (74.1% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 70mg Sodium. Total NET CARBS per tart = 3 g.