Easy mince pies
Mince pies are the most popular traditional treat during the English Christmas season. They are sold everywhere – in shops, cafes, Christmas markets – and are served at parties, fairs and public events. It’s actually really easy to make them yourself. They taste so much better than the shop-bought versions, even if you use ready-made shortcrust pastry. However, for the best results, you should make the pastry yourself, then fill the pies with good quality mincemeat (preferably homemade too). So here is a classic, easy mince pie recipe.
Ingredients
Method
- Put the flour in a mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt. Dice the butter, add to the flour and, using your fingers, crumble it until you get a mixture resembling breadcrumbs. You can instead use a food processor.
- Add the sugar and egg yolk. Using a palette knife work the batter into a dough, gradually adding 1 or 2 Tbsps of cold water to it.
- Form a big ball shape from the dough, wrap with clingfilm and rest in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, grease a shallow cupcake tray or patty tins and preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a pound coin. Cut out 12 circles with a pastry cutter (or a mug) large enough to fill the base of each of the tin’s holes. Gently press the disks into the holes and fill them with about 1 teaspoon of mincemeat.
- Re-roll the leftover trimmings and cut out slightly smaller disks to cover the mincemeat – or using a cookie cutter stamp out star or tree shapes and put these on top the pies.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is cooked through and lightly golden.
- Serve warm or lukewarm, with some icing sugar dusted over them.