Taken from lookingtocook.com because I simply cannot make my mince pies look photography worthy… as I have generally eaten half of them before I remember I need a picture!
You can’t tell me you haven’t indulged in a mince pie yet this Christmas? We are into the second week of December and I think it is imperative that if you haven’t made (or bought!!) mince pies yet, you do so NOW!
I like my mince pies to be a certain way, not too much pastry, lots of filling and icing sugar on top and I love to be able to taste the orange (and booze!) in them. So I thought I’d share my mince pie recipe with you, for those indulgent mamas and their families to tuck into… but mainly for the mamas!
What you need for the filling:
- A jar of pre-made mince pie filling
- 1-2 tablespoons of orange zest
- 1-2 tablespoons of lemon zest
- A handful of finely chopped dried apricots
- A handful of finely chopped glazé cherries
- 1 apple grated (skin on!)
- 2-3 tablespoons of cointreau (or if you prefer a less orangey flavour something like whiskey or rum!)
What you need for the pastry:
- 8oz Plain flour
- 5oz VERY cold butter, chopped
- 3oz icing (which I prefer but it is a much more difficult pastry to work with) or caster sugar
- 1 egg
Place all of the filling ingredients in bowl and leave overnight to mash together and really indulge in each other’s flavours (yes, I just wrote that – I’m very passionate about mince pies!)
Make your pastry at least 1 hour before you plan to bake your mince pies so that the pastry can rest in the fridge.
To make your pastry, rub the flour and butter together, add the egg and sugar. If you are using icing sugar the mixture will possibly be more like a paste than a pastry – don’t panic this is normal and the pastry will firm up once it has rested in the fridge for at least one hour.
When you come to roll out the pastry, do it on a very well floured surface and roll quickly. Cut out the base of the mince pies and add that straight to your pan. Take one teaspoon (or a bit more if they are going to be quite deep mince pies) of your filling and plonk it in the middle of the pastry. To add a top you can either use a traditional round top, or if you prefer less pastry like me – try a shape like a star, Christmas tree or angel.
Bake for 12 minutes or until they are starting to become blissfully golden.
Once cool give them a dust with either icing sugar (my favourite) or caster sugar if you prefer.
Enjoy!
Harriet x
