There’s nothing like a home-made mince pie to say Christmas. These pies have a hint of orange in the pastry and rather than making mincemeat which can be a faff we’ve given you ways to zhuzh up shop bought using ingredients you’ll find in the kitchen or drinks cupboard.
To make 12 Mince Pies you will need:
- Good quality mincemeat – 200g (that’s about half a regular jar)
- Cold butter diced 150g – or use vegan ‘butter’ to make vegan mince pies
- Plain flour - 225g
- Ground almonds 75g – if you don’t have almonds use more flour instead
- Goldencaster sugar 80g
- Zest of one orange
- Pinch of salt
- 1egg yolk – use 3 tsp plant milk for vegan mince pies
- 1 tbsp cold water
- 1egg, beaten – use plant milk for vegan mince pies
- A muffin tin
What you need to do…
- First and foremost, time to zhizh up your mincemeat! We like to grate an apple into it and add a handful of chopped walnuts – this makes it a bit lighter and more fruity. Closer to Christmas or if we’re gifting them we add a tablespoon of cherry brandy or rum and some orange or clementine zest.
- Rub the butter and flour together with the tips of your fingers until they look like breadcrumbs (you can do this in a mixer)
- Add the sugar, orange zest, almonds and salt and rub these in
- Add the egg yolk/ plant milk and a tablespoon of cold water and combine it to make a dough. If it’s not coming together then add a splash more water. When it’s combined and looking like dough put it into a bowl, cover and pop in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes.
- Turn oven on and preheat it to 200/180 fan Gas mark 6
- Once pastry is chilled, roll it out to a thickness of about 3mm and use a pastry cutter to cut out 12 rounds to fit your bun tin.
- Lightly grease your tin and place a round into each tin then put a spoonful of mincemeat into each ‘pie’.
- Re-roll the pastry and cut out lids to go on top – these can be rounds, stars or any other shapes you fancy.
- Brush the tops with egg or plant milk and bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Take out of the oven and leave for a few minutes then remove from the tin onto a wire rack to cool.
- Dust with icing sugar once cool, and enjoy with a cuppa - or a snifter of brandy!
Getting Ahead At Christmas
Mince pies freeze really well - so you could double or triple the recipe. A great way to get ahead on Christmas and impress guests.
To freeze them uncooked, pop them into the freezer in the baking tray. Once they’re frozen you can take them out and put them into a freezer box. When you want to cook them, put them back into the tray to cook from frozen when you want them. You'll just need to cook them for three to five minutes longer.
To freeze them once they've been cooked, let them cool down fully and put them into a freezer box and freeze. When you want them, take them out and pop them in the oven for a couple of minutes to defrost and warm them up.