Mince Pies

For those of you who like what you saw on my Instagram mince pie making reel, here's the recipe we used. I've adapted it from one of Paul Hollywood's recipes but omit some things, add others and do things slightly differently to make a few more. If you find fruit mince a bit strong (like me) the apple and apricot make it all better so go on and give it a try. It's a bit of a cheat given that we buy the fruit mince but make your own if that's your thing. I think this recipe makes about 10-12 mince pies depending on how thick you like your pastry. I would think about doubling the pastry and then you will use up all the fruit mince and better still, have more mince pies to eat. Perfect with a cup of tea and your favourite cosy cushion.

Ingredients:

Pastry

  • 375g plain flour
  • 250g softened butter
  • 125g caster sugar plus a bit more for sprinkling
  • 1 medium egg

Filling

  • 2 x 400g jars mincemeat (this is fruit mince, for the non-UK folks out there!)
  • 2 generous handfuls of chopped, dried apricots
  • 1 apple, very finely diced.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease a 12 hole muffin tin. Rub the flour, butter, sugar and egg together with a splash of cold water until it just comes together as a dough and don't overwork it.  Wrap the pastry in cling film and set aside to chill in the fridge while you make the filling and maybe add 10 mins because the filling making is very fast. 

To make the filling, turn the mincemeat out into a bowl, chuck in the apricot and apple pieces into the bowl and mix by hand.

Roll out the pastry to 3mm thickness. You can try it a bit thinner but it might end up being a bit too sticky if you roll it too thinly. With a round pastry cutter, start by cutting out 6 x 9cm circles of pastry. I like to roll them out a little bit to fit the muffin tin a bit better. Press the pastry into the muffin cups and fill each one with a good helping of the mincemeat mixture - I go to almost to the top of the pastry-lined cup. You can then probably make another 4-6 pies with whatever pastry you have left.

With a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 6 x 8cm pastry circles for the lids (slightly bigger than the top of the muffin cups). Place a lid on top of each pie and gently push down to seal the mince meat in. Sprinkle with caster sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with fresh cream, brand butter or just on their own. 

 

 

 

 


Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.


You may also like

View all
Example blog post
Example blog post
Example blog post