Mince Pies

After blogging something a bit different yesterday with my take on an Alternative Christmas Pudding, today I'm going with something traditional: the humble mince pie. Shops have been flooded with them for what feels like months, and with so many different brands on offer picking the right one can be an absolute minefield. According to my family it takes a lot to beat Morrisons' lattice-topped or Marks and Spencer's deep-filled-all-butter, but a homemade mince pie is incomparable.

I found this recipe for sugar pastry scribbled on the back of an envelope acting as a bookmark in my mum's well-thumbed Delia Smith cookbook. With no idea what to expect I tried it out, and it's a wonderful alternative to normal shortcrust pastry. As always, if you'd rather not make it from scratch then you can buy pre-made pastry at the supermarket, no-one has to know!

These are super easy and quick to make, and I'm sure Santa would appreciate a homemade mince pie over a Mr Kipling offering with his sherry tomorrow evening…

Ingredients:
8oz self-raising flour
5oz unsalted butter
3oz caster sugar
1 egg
1 jar mincemeat

Method:

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/ gas 4 (160°c for fan ovens).

Rub the flour and butter together in a bowl until they form a crumb-like consistency. If you'd rather not use your hands, then use a fork to incorporate the two together.

Add the sugar and mix it in well till evenly distributed.

Break the egg into a cup and beat slightly. Pour into the bowl and bring the mixture together into a ball. Wrap it in cling-flim and let it rest in the fridge for 25-30 minutes.

Whilst the pastry is chilling in the fridge, grease a cupcake tin. This recipe made 16 mince pies.

Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out the pastry to a thickness of roughly half a centimetre.

Using a cookie-cutter, cut out circles for the base of the mince pies. I left my cutters in London so made do with a glass instead. Basically anything circular and the right size is fine!

If you'd like a closed top on your mince pies, then make sure you cut out an extra circle of pastry per pie. I topped mine with a star, so cut those out at the same time with about a quarter of the pastry. Be warned that the pastry spreads when in the oven, so for it to retain the star shape you need to use a small cutter. The one I used as a size too big so the stars were almost lost after baking.

Line the cupcake tin with the pastry. Top each one with 1-2 teaspoons of mincemeat. Do not go over the top of the pastry as the mincemeat will spill over in the oven. Dab the edges of the pastry with cold water and top with the star. Press down the edges gently to seal.

Brush the tops with milk, and transfer to the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops start to turn golden brown. Any mistakes or slight burning can be rectified later if they're left in for too long, so don't worry!

Leave them to cool slightly in the tin for 5-10 minutes then carefully move to a wire cooling rack. Icing sugar can cover a multitude of sins (as well as making them look rather festive), so when ready to serve, top with a light dusting of icing sugar.

I had some pastry left over so made another mini batch with smaller stars on top. I think they look a lot better and are exactly what I'd pictured in my head.

Even if you're not a fan of mince pies you'll definitely need some for Father Christmas… BBC1 has a fantastic schedule tomorrow, so after the obligatory crack of dawn dash to the supermarket I'd suggest a spot of Christmas baking. Watching The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe; Toy Story 2; and Finding Nemo all in succession is entirely optional, but let's be honest - why would you not want to watch them?!