' Frosty the Snowman' stands guard over the mince pies !
I like to make festive star shapes for the tops of my mince pies, but you could just as easily make plain tops for them I love mince pies – for me, they taste of Christmas ! Now is usually around the time I start making mine – a week or so before Christmas – so that we can eat them fresh. Traditionally we eat these on Christmas morning with tea as we open our presents, and we always leave a few out for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve *wink wink*
There was a time when we could not buy jars of fruit mince meat here, one year I even asked one of our local shops months beforehand to order some in for me (which they very kindly did !) but now each year around Christmastime I see it appearing more and more on our shelves here. I suppose I could always make my own, but when the jarred stuff is so good and time is limited, I take the easy option !
For me, the most important part of the mince pie is the pastry/crust. Soft, golden and buttery – it should almost melt in your mouth … mmmmm ! The crust recipe for the mince pies below is all that and more - but you must use real butter for this as margarine is a poor alternative & won’t produce the same results.
A trick I learnt a few years ago from my dear friend J. (who’s British but has lived in East Africa for most of her life, and makes the most divine mince pies herself) is to add around 3 tablespoons of brandy to the fruit mince meat & stir well to blend before adding it as a filling – this definitely ‘ups’ the flavour & I guarantee you’ll never go back to plain old alcohol free fruit mince again !
Here’s the mince pie recipe which I use year after year -:
Mince Pies (from “Creating a Traditional Christmas” published by New Holland)
280 gm Plain Flour
½ tsp Salt
180 gm cold Butter (salted)
1 tbsp Caster Sugar (very fine Sugar) – plus extra for dusting
1 Egg, separated
4 tsp iced Water
1 tsp Lemon juice
440 gm jar Fruit Mincemeat (I stir +- 3 tbsp brandy into mine first)
Sift flour & salt together. Cut butter into small pieces & rub into flour with fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar. Mix the egg yolk, iced water & lemon juice together & add to dry ingredients – blend to make a stiff dough. Knead well. Wrap dough in plastic wrap & chill in refrigerator for around 1 hour.
Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3 mm. Cut rounds to fit base of patty pans or bun tins. Cut the same number of smaller circles to form the lids for the mince pies (I cut small star shapes to make my lids). Place 1 tsp fruit mincemeat on the base of each pastry round. Dampen pastry edge with water, cover with pastry lid, & seal. Prick holes in the lid with a fork or make a small incision with the tip of a knife. Brush with lightly beaten egg white or iced water.
Bake in preheated oven at 200’C/400’F/Gas Mark 6 for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Sprinkle with caster sugar while still warm.
There was a time when we could not buy jars of fruit mince meat here, one year I even asked one of our local shops months beforehand to order some in for me (which they very kindly did !) but now each year around Christmastime I see it appearing more and more on our shelves here. I suppose I could always make my own, but when the jarred stuff is so good and time is limited, I take the easy option !
For me, the most important part of the mince pie is the pastry/crust. Soft, golden and buttery – it should almost melt in your mouth … mmmmm ! The crust recipe for the mince pies below is all that and more - but you must use real butter for this as margarine is a poor alternative & won’t produce the same results.
A trick I learnt a few years ago from my dear friend J. (who’s British but has lived in East Africa for most of her life, and makes the most divine mince pies herself) is to add around 3 tablespoons of brandy to the fruit mince meat & stir well to blend before adding it as a filling – this definitely ‘ups’ the flavour & I guarantee you’ll never go back to plain old alcohol free fruit mince again !
Here’s the mince pie recipe which I use year after year -:
Mince Pies (from “Creating a Traditional Christmas” published by New Holland)
280 gm Plain Flour
½ tsp Salt
180 gm cold Butter (salted)
1 tbsp Caster Sugar (very fine Sugar) – plus extra for dusting
1 Egg, separated
4 tsp iced Water
1 tsp Lemon juice
440 gm jar Fruit Mincemeat (I stir +- 3 tbsp brandy into mine first)
Sift flour & salt together. Cut butter into small pieces & rub into flour with fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar. Mix the egg yolk, iced water & lemon juice together & add to dry ingredients – blend to make a stiff dough. Knead well. Wrap dough in plastic wrap & chill in refrigerator for around 1 hour.
Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3 mm. Cut rounds to fit base of patty pans or bun tins. Cut the same number of smaller circles to form the lids for the mince pies (I cut small star shapes to make my lids). Place 1 tsp fruit mincemeat on the base of each pastry round. Dampen pastry edge with water, cover with pastry lid, & seal. Prick holes in the lid with a fork or make a small incision with the tip of a knife. Brush with lightly beaten egg white or iced water.
Bake in preheated oven at 200’C/400’F/Gas Mark 6 for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Sprinkle with caster sugar while still warm.
