A fabulous British holiday treat! Warm, fruity filling, flakey pastry- what could be better!

(Make sure to leave some out for Santa too!)

Mince Pie Filling:

A jar of your favourite mincemeat or check out my version here:

https://tynetodine.com/2017/11/28/mince-pie-filling/

 

Pastry:

• 190 grams or 1 1/4 cups self-raising or all purpose flour
• 2 grams or 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 15 grams or 1 tablespoons sugar
• 75 grams or 5 tablespoons of  softened unsalted butter*
• 75 grams or 5 tablespoons of  softened vegetable shortening (Stork or Crisco)
• 3 tablespoons or 45 ml of cold water

Plus:

• An egg wash to seal your pies: 1 egg beaten with a bit of milk or water (or just non-dairy milk for the vegan version)
• A couple tablespoons of confectionary/powdered sugar to top pies once baked.

 

Mix ingredients together just enough to form a dough. If dough in too crumbly, add a tablespoon or two more water. If dough is too wet and sticky, as this is a very short crust, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it becomes easier to handle.
Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C or 350 degree F.
Once chilled, roll out dough onto a well-floured work surface to about 1/8 of an inch thick (or the thickness of a £1 coin.) Make sure you flip dough as you roll it out, this will help stop it from sticking to the work surface. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. (Or cut pie tops out in the shape of stars!)

 

Grease jam tart pan well, and set aside. **
(Timing saving tip: At this point you can freeze your rounds in a tupperware for fresh pies whenever you like. Just make sure the rounds don’t touch and each layer is separated by a sheet of plastic wrap. When wanted just thaw the frozen rounds for 10 minutes and continue with instructions below.)

Fit each round into your pan, and fill with a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat.

Brush around the rim of each pie with some egg wash, and place another round (or star shaped) top on each pie, pinching the top and bottom together a bit to stick them together and cut a small X into the top of each pie if using the round shaped top. This allows the steam the escape.

Brush pies all over with more egg wash, and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes then place on serving dish, and sprinkle all over with icing/confectionary sugar with a tea strainer or something similar.

 

Happy Christmas!

 

*For the vegan version, simply add more vegetable shortening or other butter substitute.
** If you cannot find a jam tart tray, you can also use a mini pie pan, woopie pie pan or something similar.