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Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes |
Ready In: 30 Minutes Servings: 6 |
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I can't describe how much nicer these are than shop-bought mince pies. The pastry is almost like shortbread, none of that doughy horrible stuff. If you can't be bothered to make your own mincemeat, just use a really good quality shop-bought one. The one I use here has no beef suet, so it suitable for vegetarians. A quick tip for forming the cases: I find that if I mould them straight into the tin, it's quite tricky to remove them once cooked, so I line the tin with clingfilm, make the cases then pull up the film to remove the cases and pop them back in the holes. Ingredients:
225 g cold unsalted butter, diced |
350 g plain flour |
100 g golden caster sugar |
1 pinch salt |
280 g mincemeat (from fruity mincemeat) |
1 small egg, beaten |
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 200°C.
2. Rub together the flour and butter (or whizz up in a food processor).
3. Add the sugar and salt and mix thoroughly.
4. Knead the mixture together. Don't add any water. You'll think there's no way it's ever going to stick into a ball, but it will after a few minutes of kneading.
5. Take walnut-sized balls of the pastry and push them into the holes of a 12-cake cupcake tin, forming them into case shapes.
6. Fill each with some of the mincemeat.
7. Form lids for each pie from a slightly smaller ball of dough, patted out flat to fit. Push the edges onto the sides of the case - they will stick together without the need for any egg or milk.
8. At this point, you can freeze the pies until needed.
9. Brush the tops with the beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden.
10. Serve hot or cold, dusted with icing sugar, with lashings of brandy butter.
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