Melt In The Mouth Mince Pies Recipes

MINCE PIES

Steps:

• Place 375g plain flour and 260g softened unsalted butter in a bowl and rub together to a crumb consistency.
• Add 125g caster sugar and 1 large beaten egg, and mix together.
• Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and fold until the pastry comes together, be careful not to over mix.
• Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 10 mins.
• Scoop the large jar of mincemeat into a bowl and add 2 segmented satsumas, 1 finely chopped apple and zest of 1 lemon.
• Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
• Roll out the pastry to 3mm thick.
• Using a round cutter (about 10cm), cut out 16 bases and place them into muffin trays. Put 1½ tbsp mincemeat mixture into each. Brush the edge of each pie with a little beaten egg.
• Re-roll out the pastry to cut 7cm lids and press them on top to seal. Glaze with the beaten egg, sprinkle with the extra caster sugar, then make a small cut in the tops.
• Bake the mince pies for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Leave to cool before releasing them from the muffin trays and dusting with a little more icing sugar before serving.

JEWELLED MINCE PIES

Steps:

• Put flour, almonds, butter, orange zest and sugar in a food processor and whizz into crumbs. Add the egg yolk and a teaspoon of cold water and pulse to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6.Roll out the dough thinly and, with an 8-9cm plain cutter, stamp out 18 rounds - they need to be larger than the bun tin holes. Use to line one and a half 12-hole bun tins, pinching and fluting the dough edges above the level of the tins with your fingers.
• Put a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat in each case. Quickly knead the trimmings and roll out. Use a star cutter to make 18 stars.
• Put a star on top of each pie. Brush stars and pastry edges with egg white and dust lightly with caster sugar. (The pies can be frozen at this stage in the tins, then removed, packed into freezer bags and frozen for up to 3 months.) Bake the pies for 12-15 minutes (18-20 minutes from frozen) until the pastry is crisp and golden. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar before serving.