As we tick down the clock to the new year, perhaps this is one last opportunity to squeeze in a few extra calories before those resolutions have to kick in.

In the Suburban Bee Company kitchen, yuletide was powered by some of our barbecue favourites. Pulled pork and brisket from the smoker; buffalo wings with blue cheese dip and hush puppies from the fryer. Not to mention slaw, biscuits, burnt ends mac & cheese, corn on the cob and pickles. Perhaps not the traditional festival of turkey or goose, but lots of fun to prepare and simply guaranteed to have the table groaning with a cornucopia of southern delights.

It was always going to be a tough ask to follow that act. We went with a christmassy take on a Theo Randall classic to add some simple elegance to the proceedings. And honey, of course.

The christmas citrus, pecan and honey tart features a good dose of juice from those staples of the season, easy peelers – we use clementines to bring a fresh little lift. Serve the tart at room temperature with a scoop of ice cream – vanilla would be fab; we went with salted caramel for yet another blast of luxury.

For this recipe we’re using home made sweet pastry. You can of course use shop-bought but Theo’s pastry is extremely forgiving and can be patched up with spare pastry to cover any cracks or slumped areas at any time before final bake of the filling.

For the sweet pastry

250g plain flour
75g sifted icing sugar
180g chilled unsalted butter
2 free range egg yolks

For the filling

200g pecan nut halves
50g  dark soft brown sugar
20g plain flour
3 free range eggs
juice of 6 clementines
seeds from half a vanilla pod
50g local honey

To make

For the sweet pastry, use a food processor to pulse the flour, icing sugar and butter together until they form something resembling bread crumbs. Add the egg yolks and again pulse for a few seconds to combine. Tip the mixture into a bowl and quickly bring together by hand to form a dough. Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for an hour. Once chilled, roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and press into a 26cm fluted, loose base tart tin. Pop the tin back in the fridge to cool for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Toast the pecans in the oven on a baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Line the pastry tart tin with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes then remove the paper and baking beans and finish the pastry for a further 5 minutes until golden brown.

Line the pastry case with the pecan halves.

For the filling – mix the sugar and flour in a bowl. Whisk in the eggs then clementine juice, vanilla seeds and finally honey. Pour this mixture over the pecans and bake the tart in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the filling is firm. Leave to cool to room temperature to give more time for the tart to set.

Enjoy!