Christmas Mince Pies

Submitted by Bokenpop aka Mad

"For years it was a family competition of sorts to see who would be the first to bring home Christmas mince pies to share. When my mom started making these, the store-bought ones suddenly became so mediocre that our annual bit of fun fell away because no-one would eat them anymore!"

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Yields: 12 pies

ingredients

• QUICK FRUIT MINCEMEAT

• 1⁄4 cup melted butter
• 1⁄3 cup brown sugar
• 100 g raisins
• 50 g sultanas
• 50 g black currants
• 50 g candied peel
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and grated
• 1⁄3 cup chopped glace cherries
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 25 -50 ml brandy

• PASTRY

• 500 ml cake flour, loosely measured
• 50 ml cornflour
• 50 ml icing sugar
• 175 g butter
• 1 egg
• 2 ml vanilla extract

directions

1. QUICK FRUIT MINCEMEAT:

2. Combine all ingredients and set aside for flavours to infuse.

3. PASTRY:

4. Sift flour, cornflour, and icing sugar.
5. Rub in the butter.
6. Beat egg and vanilla together then add, mixing well.
7. Knead into a ball without overhandling the pastry.
8. Roll out thinly on a floured board and cut into 3" rounds.
9. Reroll offcuts until all the pastry is used.
10. Place rounds in a patty pan, place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the middle of each pastry round and cover with second pastry round.
11. Press edges together with the prongs of a fork and prick each top twice.
12. Bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes or until pale gold.
13. Leave to cool slightly before removing to cooking rack.
14. Dust lightly with icing sugar.
15. COOKS NOTE - If you don't have a patty pan, place the pies on a cookie sheet rather than in a muffin tray, which is too deep.

Reviews

[2Mells]

Exactly what I was looking for, with the huge bonus of actually getting a recipe to make *quick* fruit mincemeat myself - which is important in a country like Germany (they don't know what fruit mince is, so it's impossible to get hold of in supermarkets and so forth). So thanks! (-:=

 

[JAD40]

This is a quick easy to make recipe. The pastry worked REALLY well for me. I have made it my sweet pastry base from now on. Don't make the pastry too thin, cause that's when I ran into trouble. Absolutely delicious. Added dried sugared ginger for a little extra zing. I made 3 batches in quick succession before we slowed down!! Made them in patty cake trays and just didn't push the base into the pan, but let it settle as it wanted to. Popped the lid on and forked around the edge to seal them. Worked a charm. For easier measuring 500ml cake flour = 2 cups or 250gms. 50ml cornflour = 1/4 cup or 30 gms, and 50ml icing sugar = 1/4 cup or 40gms. Thanks for posting.

 

[daisycrazyme]

Hi Ive never made pastry before and I found the pastry far too dry so I added an extra egg and then some water. In another batch that I made I just used two egg yolkes, 1 rinde of an Orange and about 3 table spoons of orange juice, put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. When I rolled out the pastry i had to put flour down but the mixture was georgous an so easy to work with. The mince pies turned out great!

 

[l.kilts]

tops!