Approx cost: €2.50
Approx calories (per pie): ~200
Approx preparation time and cooking time: 40 minutes
With Christmas just around the corner I figured what better thing to post than a recipe for some mince pies. It seems people not from England tend to find this dish rather peculiar, and it does call for a jar of mincemeat, which is probably out of the question unless you live anywhere near England, or have some nice, kind, family member who can bring some over for you! Eat on their own with some tea, or with some cream and brandy-butter as a festive dessert.
Ingredients
Ingredients you'll need for this dish
– 340g Plain Flour
– 1 jar Mincemeat (the fruit variety!)
– 85g Butter
– 85g Vegetable oil based margarine
You’ll also need
Mince Pie tin
Pastry brush
Cookie Cutters
Instructions
Place the flour and butter/margarine into a bowl and rub through your fingers for a few minutes until the mix resembles bread-crumbs and there are no longer any lumps of fat left.
- Add in a bit of water, bit by bit, about half a tablespoon at a time, binding with your hands until you make a firm ball which sticks well together, without being slimy or sticky.
- Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out until about 3mm thick. Cut out into rounds and press gently into the mince pie / fairy cake tin. Place about 1 teaspoon of mincemeat inside each pie form and press down gently.
- Press the pastry together again and roll out once again to the same thickness as before. Using a smaller cutter, cut out enough rounds to cover the tops of the pies. Using the pastry brush, brush each pie with milk and bake in a very hot oven – around 180 degrees Celsius – for around 10-15 minutes, until the pies are nicely browned on top.
- Dust with icing sugar when cool and serve on their own or with some cream and brandy butter!
Nom nom
These look fantastic. Wish I had some right now. Think they would keep in an airtight tin for at least a week
Hello Charles,
Stopping by for the first time and really enjoyed perusing many of your posts! Lovely place you have here 🙂
I think it would fun to try my hand at Mincemeat Pies. They look delicious!
So nice visiting with you.
Kindly, Lorraine
Thanks so much Lorraine! it’s too bad Mincemeat is considered more a “Christmas” thing – I could eat it all year round 😀
Hi Charles, was just watching a show about Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson on Netflix and it made me think of you. And, since I baked more mince pies this morning, I thought I’d check and see if you had posted mince pies. I made this batch with stars on top, but I like them better with just a round top crust, as you did here, because it seems like there is *more* crust.