Recipe: Sweet Mince Pies

With Christmas less than two weeks away, I thought it was about time to try out some delicious, Christmassy recipes, and where better to start than with some sweet mince pies?

As I’ve never baked my own sweet mince pies before, I wanted to find a recipe that was super easy but would still taste, and look, wonderful. So, when I came across a recipe by Paul Hollywood, I decided to give it a go.

If you want to try it out for yourself, here it is (courtesy of BBC Good Food).

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 large jar mincemeat (600g)
• 2 satsumas, segmented
• 1 apple, finely chopped
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Pastry

• 375g plain flour
• 260g unsalted butter (softened)
• 125g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 large egg, plus 1 beaten egg for glazing

Method

1. Place the flour and butter in a bowl and rub together to a crumb consistency.
2. Add the sugar and the egg, and mix together.
3. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and fold until the pastry comes together.
4. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 10 minutes.
5. Scoop the mincemeat into a bowl and add the satsumas, apple and zest. This is where it starts to smell delicious!
6. 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. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find this part unnecessarily difficult, but persist with it…you can do it!
7. Put a small amount of mincemeat mixture into each pie, and brush the edge with a small amount of beaten egg.
8. Re-roll out the pastry to cut 7cm lids and press them on top to seal. Glaze with the rest of the egg, sprinkle with caster sugar and make a small incision in the tops.
9. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Leave to cool, and then dust with icing sugar.

As this was my first attempt at baking sweet mince pies, I’m quite pleased with the outcome. However, I’m sure you can do lots better (and so can I, with some extra practice!) So, if you do attempt this recipe for yourself, make sure to let me know down in the comments! I’d love to see how they turn out.