These pretty tarts are perfect for Christmas Day. It is always better making pastry when the temperature is cool as it is easier to handle. This is a great job to do on a morning or in the late evening a couple of days beforehand. Once the bases are baked, store in an airtight container ready for lastminute filling.
Pastry
| 2 cups | Plain flour |
| ¼ cup | Icing sugar |
| 150 g | Butter, cut into cubes |
| 1 | Egg yolk |
| 1 Tbsp | Cold water |
Topping
| 2 cups | Blueberries (Main) |
| ¼ cup | Grand Marnier |
| 2 Tbsp | Water |
| 1 Tbsp | Chopped thyme |
| 1 tsp | Arrowroot, mixed with 1 Tbsp water |
Filling
| 150 g | Cream cheese |
| 200 g | Creme fraiche |
| 1 Tbsp | Orange zest |
| 2 tsp | Finely chopped thyme leaves, plus a few extra leaves to garnish (Main) |
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Place flour, icing sugar and butter in a food processor and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add egg yolk and water, and combine to form a dough. Roll out and line 8 x 10cm tart tins. Refrigerate for 10 minutes before baking blind.
- For the topping, place the blueberries, Grand Marnier, water and thyme in a small pot and bring to a simmer. Add the arrowroot and cook for 1 minute to thicken. Cool.
- Beat the cream cheese, creme fraiche, zest and thyme leaves until smooth.
- When ready to serve, fill the tart cases with filling and spoon over the blueberry mixture. Sprinkle over a few fresh leaves to garnish.
