Melt-in-the-mouth Mince Pies
No Comments »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.