However, throughout the Christmas period I have been making mince pies, I had never made them before and thought I would give it ago. I'd also never made pastry before so it was a new bake on every level. I was quite worried that they were going to be quite difficult to make but it was the absolute opposite! These are unbelievably easy to make, definitely a great bake to make with the kids.
My dad, who isn't keen on mince pies, tried my first batch and loved them, particularly the pastry! He isn't a huge fan on pastry but was very impressed with these mince pies. My mum loved them and made me make a whole load for Christmas day and Boxing day. I also made a whole load when my friend from university visited....so many mince pies!! They are now a firm family favourite.
I trusted the good 'ol reliable Good Food magazine for the recipe. They sourced it from Paul Hollywood ,so you can't really go wrong with this recipe.
Ingredients
260g Cold Unsalted Butter
375g Plain Flour
125g Caster Sugar
1 Jar of Mincemeat (approx 600g)
1 Egg
Icing Sugar to Dust
1) Place the flour and butter in a bowl and rub together to a crumb consistency. Add the sugar and the egg, and mix together. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and fold until the pastry comes together, be careful to not over mix. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 10 mins.
2) Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Roll out the pastry to 3mm thick. Using round cutters (about 10cm), cut out 16 bases and place them into muffin trays. Put 1 1/2 tbsp mincemeat mixture into each. Brush the edge of each pie with a little beaten egg. Re-roll out the pastry to cut out 7cm lids, press them on top of each pie to seal. Glaze with the rest of the egg, sprinkle with caster sugar, then make a small cut in the tops.
3) Bake mince pies for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Leave to cool before releasing them from the muffin trays. Dust the mince pies with icing sugar and serve.
Sarah's Tips:
If your finding that the pastry is getting too warm, cut the pastry in half, leave 1 half in the fridge while you work on the other half. But don't over chill the pastry to the point its rock hard and cracks while you try to roll it out, if this does happen, just let the pastry warm up a little.
The type of pastry made is a sweet shortcrust pastry.
I found using patty trays were much easier to use than muffin trays, as it is much easier to release them from the tin.
Also don't go over board with the egg wash, it can cause the mince pie to stick to the trays.
For some mince pie lids I used a star cutter to give them some variety.
However, using star lids means you have to watch your mince pies! If you overcook them, the mincemeat can boil and leak out onto the mince pie. Not so pretty.
Don't over fill the mince pies. I preferred to do a teaspoon and half to 2 teaspoons for each pie as I found a tablespoon and a half meant the mincemeat leaked out.
I like to eat my mince pies warm, so to reheat them, I put them in the oven for 10 mins at 160C Fan.
Keep these mince pies in an air tight container so they can keep for a number of days, plus, they are freezable!
Happy Baking!
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