Mince Pies
When I am making the mince pies, I assemble and fill the pastry in the bun tins and store these in the fridge. On Christmas Eve I then pop them straight into the preheated oven and have lovely warm pies
SERVES
24
PEOPLE
PREP TIME
35
MINUTES
COOKING TIME
15
MINUTES
Ingredients
450g flour
Pinch of salt
275g butter
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
550g mince
Method
Sieve flour and salt. Rub in butter, do not over mix. You want it to look like large breadcrumbs.
Dissolve the sugar in the eggs, mix it lightly and add to the flour with a fork. Bring it all together with your hands.
Wrap in baking parchment and rest the pastry overnight or for at least 3 hours.
To make the mince pies, preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas 4.
Butter and flour two cupcake tins and set aside.
Roll out your pastry to about 3 ml thickness and cut out 24 rounds using a 9cm cutter, then cut out stars from each circle.
Gently place the base circles into the tins. Do not wedge them in as they will gently fall in place by themselves.
Place two teaspoons of mince in the centre of each of the circles. Leave at least 3mm free of mince around the edge as it will spread when it is heated.
Place a star or circle on top of each pie. If you are using the circle you will need to pinch the edges, so it attaches to the base.
Bake for about 15 minutes. The pastry should be turning golden and the mince bubbling.
Once the pies are cool enough to handle, pop them out of the tin with the tip of a butter knife and leave to cool on a wire rack. You can sprinkle them with a little icing sugar if you wish.
