Mmm Mince Pies.
Its not too late to make and enjoy some mince pies. If you are like me you probably have a jar of fruit mince in your pantry. Maybe it even arrived there before last Christmas. This is an easy recipe, with a delicious pastry.
This is how I do it.
Ingredients
I jar Fruit Mince
1- 2 tablespoons brandy or sherry
125g butter at room temperature
125g sugar
1 small egg
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 cup plain flour
1 cup Self raising flour
Extra butter for greasing
1 -2 tablespoons castor sugar
Method
Open jar of fruit mince and decant into a small bowl. If you are a purist you can make your own fruit mince but that’s another story. Add the brandy or sherry and mix in well. Set oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
In a mixing bowl put the butter and sugar and mix until white and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla paste and beat in well. gradually add the 2 flours until well combined and leaving the sides of the bowl.
Turn out onto bench and use about 2/3 of the mixture to make the bases and the other 1/3 to make the lids.
Grease a 12 hole muffin pan well with butter. Roll out the dough to about 1/8″ thick. Use a 4″ cutter to make 12 rounds. you will need to repeat the rolling a few times to make the 12 bases. Carefully slide a knife or spatula under each round and lift into the muffin tin. Gently ease each round into the bases. Spoon the fruit mince into each base in equal amounts. Roll out the rest of the dough. use a 2 1/2″ cutter or inverted glass the cut the lids. lift each lid onto the pie and gently push around the sides to seal the lid with the base. The pie will “heap” up in the middle. use a skewer to make a hole in to centre of each pie. Sprinke with the castor sugar. Bake.
Bake for about 20 -25 minutes. Or until. A little golden and firm to touch.
Allow to cool to blood temperature before removing from muffin pans. Use a very thin bladed knife to run around the edges to loosen before removing from tin.
Makes one dozen Mince Pies.
Enjoy.
