Magi and a thousand mince tarts!
By on December 19, 2008 7:00 AM
All this talk about Panettone is not good because it has set me on a course that I was hoping to avoid this year. But I am afraid that now that I am on the 'festive food' wagon there is no hope of me getting off until at least mid January! What could possibly top Perbellini Panettone you ask - mince tarts! Well maybe not top, but come pretty darn close. And when I say mince tarts I am not talking about those inferior impostors that you find in Bakers Delight or the likes, but rather the only mince tarts that I think rate a mention in Melbourne are Phillippa's mince tarts.
I have eaten a great many mince tarts in my time and am eternally grateful that they are only available this time of the year, other wise I would need to live on a treadmill! I think I am on my way to having almost eaten 1000 mince tarts in my life time (not all at once). How did I arrive at that number? Well conservatively speaking, if I eat two dozen mince tarts a year and then times that by 30 years, you get way too many mince tarts for one person. But the upside is that this amount of consumption must make me some kind of 'authority' on the subject.
Jocelyn's Mince Tarts
Nevertheless, Phillippa's mince tarts are free from suet and are hand
made as opposed to mass produced, and are made with LOTS of butter. The
filling is moist and the spice blend is just right. Each mouth full
should not only be savoured, but is a tribute to this glorious
Christmas tradition and just screams 'perfection'. I recently read an
article that suggested that the stars that are sometimes seen on top of
mince tarts are 'symbolic of the star that led the Magi to Bethlehem'.
That same article also stated that folklore has it 'that eating a pie
on each of the twelve days of Christmas brings wealth and prosperity
for the future twelve months'. Now who am I to stand in the way of
folklore!
If you want to try your hand at making your own mince tarts this year, why not get some superb 'vanilla bean sweet pastry' from Carême Pastry? There is a simple, straightforward recipe on the website that makes approximately 48 mince tarts. If you could not be bothered making your own I hear that Lorraine Godsmark of Yellow Bistro & Food Store in Potts Point Sydney also does an exceptional mince tart as does Jocelyn Hancock of Jocelyn's Provisions in Fortitude Valley Queensland.
If anyone knows of any other brand of mince tart that can rival the ones I have mentioned then please do tell!
I have eaten a great many mince tarts in my time and am eternally grateful that they are only available this time of the year, other wise I would need to live on a treadmill! I think I am on my way to having almost eaten 1000 mince tarts in my life time (not all at once). How did I arrive at that number? Well conservatively speaking, if I eat two dozen mince tarts a year and then times that by 30 years, you get way too many mince tarts for one person. But the upside is that this amount of consumption must make me some kind of 'authority' on the subject.
Jocelyn's Mince TartsIf you want to try your hand at making your own mince tarts this year, why not get some superb 'vanilla bean sweet pastry' from Carême Pastry? There is a simple, straightforward recipe on the website that makes approximately 48 mince tarts. If you could not be bothered making your own I hear that Lorraine Godsmark of Yellow Bistro & Food Store in Potts Point Sydney also does an exceptional mince tart as does Jocelyn Hancock of Jocelyn's Provisions in Fortitude Valley Queensland.
If anyone knows of any other brand of mince tart that can rival the ones I have mentioned then please do tell!
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