Christmas Star Brownie & Mincemeat Tart

Remove the pastry from the fridge 45 minutes before unrolling to make sure it doesn’t break and crack when lining the tart tin. Preheat the oven to 200C, 180C fan, gas 6.

Unroll the pastry, keeping it on the paper it was rolled in. Roll the pastry out a little thinner to make a slightly larger rectangle. Cut away a 5cm wide strip from one long side and reserve for the pastry stars. Use the rest of the pastry to line a 32cm x 10cm tart tin, allowing the excess to hang over the edges of the tin. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork. Chill the tart pastry case for 15 minutes. Chill the reserved strip of pastry until required.

Run a rolling pin firmly over the tin edges to trim off the excess pastry. Line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes then remove the paper and beans and continue to cook for a further 8-10 minutes until crisp and pale golden. Remove from the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C, 160C fan, gas 4.

Meanwhile, place the butter and chocolate into a large bowl on top of a pan of gently simmering water. Leave for 10 minutes, to melt. Stir to combine and remove the bowl from the pan. Beat in the sugar, vanilla extract and most of the beaten eggs, reserving 1 teaspoon of the beaten eggs to brush the stars. Sift over the flour and add the mincemeat and stir. Spoon into the pastry case and level the surface.

Use small star cutters to stamp out star shapes from the reserved pastry strip. Brush with the reserved beaten egg and place onto the brownie mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until firm to touch.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then remove the tart from the tin and serve warm or cold, dusted with icing sugar.