“What amazes me is just how bad some of our little fruit mince pies are.
You must have had them: dry and hard with a filling that is so sour and mean, like a tight little smile.”
– Nigel Slater
My fruit mince pies are spicy, rich and full of brandy. The pastry is golden and crisp, and oh so short. It melts in the mouth.
Fruit mince pies are not difficult to make. But they do require some time. It is such a fun project over the Christmas break. And the time is well paid off – homemade fruit mince pies are so very delicious, Nigel would approve.
This is only one of a range of Christmas recipes on my website – many based on traditional vintage recipes. Check out the full range of recipes here!
Ingredients
1 x jar fruit mince or see my homemade fruit mince recipe here
250g (1 2/3 cup) plain flour
50g (1/4 cup) icing sugar
Pinch of salt
50g (1/2 cup) almond meal
150g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, cold but pliable
30g egg yolks (from 2 eggs)
About 1 tbsp (15ml) ice-cold water
15g (1 tbsp) full-cream milk
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp (5g) cinnamon
Makes 550g pastry, enough for 12 pies or 24 mini pies
Method
- Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the almond meal and mix to combine. Break the butter into small pieces and rub this through the flour mix until it looks like breadcrumbs.
- Beat the yolks with the water and stir this into the flour. Mix to a smooth dough but avoid overworking. If the dough appears dry, at the faintest sprinkling more of water. Flatten dough into two even disks, wrap each tightly and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll one portion of dough to 3-4mm thick. Cut out 12 discs using a circle cutter with a diameter 2cm larger than the bottom of the muffin tin, to form the bases.
- Lay a pastry base in each muffin cup and gently press into the corners. Drape the tin with plastic wrap and store in the fridge.
- Next, roll the remaining disc of pastry to 3mm thick. Cut out 12 discs of pastry the same diameter as the muffin cup opening – these will be the lids of the pies. Alternatively, you can use a star or snowflake cookie cutter around the same diameter. Cover and store lids in the fridge until needed.
- Remove the cases from the fridge and spoon the filling into each just short of the top (using around 1-2 tablespoons of filling).
- Remove the tops from the fridge and cut a small slit or hole in the centre to allow the steam to escape (if using star or snowflake shapes, skip this step).
- Brush the underside edges with a smear of water, then place on top of each pie, pressing to seal. Place back in the fridge until firm. Around 15 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-assisted). Adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven.
- Brush the top of each pie with a little milk/melted butter and sprinkle with caster sugar mixed with cinnamon.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a rich golden brown, then remove and leave to cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each pie from the tin and placing on a wire rack to cool.
Tips:
- If at any time the pastry gets sticky, chill in the fridge for 15 minutes before continuing.
- Pastry offcuts can be re-rolled to make a further six pies. If you only have one tray, make sure it is completely cool before adding pastry.
- If you want to prepare ahead, the assembled pies can be refrigerated for up to five days before baking, or frozen for up to three months. Bake from frozen until the pastry is nicely golden all over.
- You can use shop bought shortcrust pastry. All butter pastry by Careme is best.
- The mince pies will last for 3-5 days in an airtight container at room temperature, although the pastry will start to soften after a day or two.
