Recipes

Festive Mince Pies

 

You will need ...

225g/8 oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
50g/2 oz icing sugar
25g/1 oz ground almonds
175g/6 oz butter (from the fridge)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the filling ...

675g/ 1 ½ lb (approx) sweet mincemeat

Preparation and baking

1. To make the pastry, sieve the flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in the ground almonds. Chop or coarsely grate the cold butter and rub this into the dry ingredients (a food processor may be used to do this).

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and lemon juice. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix together to form a smooth dough. Knead gently on a floured board, cover with cling-film and refrigerate until required.

3. To make the mince pies, leave the pastry at room temperature for approximately 20 minutes. Roll out thinly on a floured board. Using a round 3” fluted cutter, cut out circles of pastry. Makes approximately 3 dozen.

4. Use the pastry circles to line the bases of shallow patty tins. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat into each pie and bake these in a pre-heated oven at 190°C, 375°F or Gas Mark 5 for approximately 10 minutes. Allow to cool in the tray.

To serve

Serve warm or cold with lightly whipped cream or Crème Fraiche.

For variation, cut out star shapes from the pastry trimmings and use these to top the pies before baking. When baked, just sprinkle with a little sieved icing sugar.

 

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