Before I carry on with the blogging, time for a quick recipe.  I wish I’d found this one before Christmas, the pastry sounds interesting - maybe I’ll give it a try this year:

500g mincemeat

a little milk, for brushing,

caster sugar, to sprinkle

Pastry ingredients:

300g plain flour plus extra

3tbsp icing sugar

175g unsalted butter, fridge cold

175g soft cheese

about 3tbsp single or double cream

Sift the flour into a bowl with the icing sugar and 1/2 tsp salt.  Using a pair of knives, or food processor, cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs.  Add enough cream to mix to a soft dough.  Gather up into a ball, knead very briefly to smooth out, then divide into two.  Wrap each piece in cling film & chill for at least 1 hr.

Lightly grease a bun tin, on a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin, then stamp out equal numbers of 6cm and 7cm circles.  Use the larger circles to line the cups of the tin, place 1 heaped tsp of mincemeat in each one, then cover with the smaller discs, lightly pressing the edges together.  Make a small hole in the centre of each lid to allow steam to escape.  Chill for 30 mins before baking.

Heat oven to 220 degrees centigrade/fan200C/gas 7 and place a baking sheet in the oven to heat up.  Place the mince pie tin on the baking tray in the oven and bake for 10 mins.  Reduce heat to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 then cook for another 10 mins until golden brown.  Brush lightly with milk, dust with caster sugar then return to the oven for 1 min.  Cool for 5 mins in the tine then ease out.

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