Mince pies

So it turns out I do like mince pies! A while back I commented how I was confused that I did not like them as I like pastry and dried fruit. I made my own mincemeat and below is the pastry recipe I used. This pastry is lovely, short, crisp and buttery, not at all soft and mushy like some shop bought mice pies.

Mince pies

makes 6-9 depending on size

90g butter
110g plain flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
egg yolk
1-3 tablespoons ice cold water

mincemeat

Pulse the butter and flour in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and egg yolk and pulse again. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, and pulse until until the dough comes together, I have made this pastry a couple of times and always have needed 2 tablespoons of water, but it will depend on the butter you use and the size of the egg yolk.

Gather the dough and wrap in clingfilm, chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN. Spray or butter cupcake tins and add a strip of greaseproof paper, this will make removing your mince pies a doddle.

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out your pastry to a few mm thick. Stamp out circles bigger than the bases in your cupcake tin. Stamp out an equal number of stars for the tops. Line the cases with the pastry, gently pushing it to the base and up the sides.

Fill each case with heaped teaspoons of mincemeat and top with a star. Use the leftover egg white to glaze all exposed pastry. 

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly then devour whilst warm!

If you cannot eat them all in one sitting they are lovely up to two days later gently warmed through. They may last longer than 2 days but in our house that did not happen...

These were so good a second batch has already been made... don't judge me I have spent the last 20 or so years missing out, I have a lot of catching up to do!