I can't believe that there are only 12 more days left until Christmas! My days are being pulled into a final house renovation push and Christmas school events and from Thursday I have my boys for a whole four weeks -- which I'm looking forward to but am not quite as prepared as usual for Christmas this year! It seems to have snuck up on us and my baking plans each day have been sabotaged by trying to get ourselves ship-shape for Christmas.
This year I was determined we would have homemade mince pies. Crazily, I've never made them before as I don't eat them myself but the boys in my life love them and I wanted to create some rustic and yummy little treats for them.
I made the mincemeat at the weekend and stored it in a large mason jar. Even though I don't like mincemeat, the smell is divine and I did lick the spoon and spent a few moments reconsidering whether I could actually like mince pies as the flavour was delicious (it's the fruit in it that I don't enjoy). It's perfectly Christmassy.
The pastry is simple to put together but very soft and does need to be chilled in the fridge a couple of times during preparation. It's also much easier to cut out shapes from the chilled pastry as it tends to get a little sticky when it's been at room temperature for too long.
The fun part is making the little pie toppers and you can use any little cutters you have to great effect. I used some stars, mini christmas trees, mini gingerbread man and an angel cutter - but I also just cut strips of pastry for the lattice one and created the effect myself so you don't need to rush out and invest in lots of cutters.
For a little extra bling you can brush the tops of your baked mince pies with edible gold dust (a tip from Donna Hay) -- I have a lot of tints lying around from making my celebration cakes so this has given mine a lovely extra shine but it's completely up to you whether you want to do this and I think they look wonderful without anything. Or adding a little snow (our household term for icing sugar) would look beautifully wintry and festive too.
I tentatively gave my little boys a mince pie each for dinner this evening and then retreated to the kitchen. When I went back to see them, there were clean plates. And they were licking their lips. I did a little happy dance that they were such a success - although I did get a few design tips for my next batch from them :)
festive mince pies
makes 9 mince pies
mincemeat ingredients from Valli Little's Love to Cook
- 250G RAISINS
- 160G SULTANAS
- 75G CURRANTS
- 50G FINELY CHOPPED APRICOTS
- 60G CHOPPED GLACÉ CHERRIES
- 75G MIXED PEEL
- 1 GRATED GREEN APPLE
- 1 TSP GRATED LEMON ZEST
- 1 TSP GRATED ORANGE ZEST
- 1 TBSP LEMON JUICE
- 225G SOFT BROWN SUGAR
- 1 TSP MIXED SPICE
- 1/4 TSP GRATED NUTMEG
- 80ML BRANDY
- 50G MELTED, COOLED BUTTER
mincemeat method
- put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse a few times until everything is well combined
- seal in an airtight container and store in a cool, dark place for up to 3 months
mince pie pastry ingredients
- 200g plain flour
- 150g cold, cubed butter
- 45g soft brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg, lightly beaten for the glaze
- 1 tsp vanilla
mince pie pastry method
- place the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and process until it ressembles fine breadcrumbs
- add the egg and vanilla and mix again until the pastry comes together
- turn the pastry out onto a sheet of clingfilm, bring it together and then flatten it into a disc
- wrap it in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes
- take a cupcake tin and lightly grease each cupcake cavity with bake release or a light oil
- lightly flour a work surface, turn out your pastry onto the surface, lightly flour the top of the pastry and your rolling pin
- roll out the pastry until it's around 4mm thick
- cut out 9 x 7.5cm circles from the pastry and line the cavities of the cupcake tin
- heap in the mincemeat until it's to the top of the pastry
- use a 6m round cutter to make the toppers and then get creative with any cutters you have (stars, angels, christmas trees, snowflakes)
- pop back in the fridge for 20 minutes and pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees (fan)
- remove the mince pies from the fridge and brush them with a lightly beaten egg
- bake them for around 15-20 minutes until the tops are a lovely golden brown colour
- allow to cool for 5 minutes and then remove them carefully from their tin and put on a cooling rack
- enjoy :)